Class ^^jC^^BS 
Book_» 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




MOEBIUS, CAMDEN. N. 




/ 



Moses Drury Ho 



Life and Letters. 



By his Nephew, 

PEYTON HARRISON HOGE. 

1/ 



RICHMOND, VA. : 

Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 

Library of CoBg ret% 
Office c f th* 

iWN 24 1900 

Register of Copyrlgfcf. 




Copyrighted, 1899, 

BY 

JAS. K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication. 



46 8EC0ND C0PY - 



Printed by 
Whittet & Shepperson, 
Richmond, Va. 



Bound by 
Weymouth, Meister & Smethie, 
Richmond, Va. 



TO THE 

Congregation of tfte $econd Presbyterian Cfturcb, 
Richmond, Ua. t 

WHICH 
FOR FIFTY-FOUR YEARS, 
WITH EVER CHANGING MEMBERSHIP, 
BUT 

WITH UNCHANGING DEVOTION, 
SHARED THE LABORS AND REWARDS OF THIS EVENTFUL MINISTRY. 



PREFACE. 



There was a very general impression after Dr. Hoge's 
death, and the statement was frequently made in the public 
press, that he had left in manuscript a volume of reminiscences 
which only needed editing to be given to the public. Unfor- 
tunately such was not the case. While he had frequently 
been importuned to prepare such a volume, and had fully 
purposed to do so, in the pressure of other duties he had 
never even commenced it, and left not a line of autobiography 
or personal reminiscence except his published Memorial 
Address. It was necessary, therefore, to gather up the mate- 
rials of this biography from family letters and records, from 
his own correspondence, extending through over sixty years, 
from contemporary newspaper reports and church records, 
and from the personal knowledge of his family and friends. 
Fortunately some of those to whom he wrote most freely, 
recognizing the value of his letters, had carefully preserved 
them, while it was the custom of some of his friends, and 
later of his daughter, to preserve newspaper notices of his 
work. From this mass of material I have endeavored to 
select what would best illustrate the life I sought to present, 
and the times in which that life was lived; endeavoring to 
keep in mind — however imperfectly I have succeeded — 
the words of Emerson, that "all public facts are to be indi- 
vidualized, and all private facts are to be generalized. Thus, 
at once, History becomes fluid and true, and Biography 
deep and sublime." 

In discussing Dr. Hoge's part in the civil war and the 
related controversies, fidelity to my subject required that I 
should present as correctly and adequately as possible the 
point of view of that time; while the same fidelity to his 



vi 



Preface. 



whole subsequent course required that in so doing I should 
avoid awakening past animosities, and should study the 
things that make for peace. 

Besides the members of Dr. Hoge's immediate family, who 
have given me the heartiest cooperation in my work, I de- 
sire to make my acknowledgments to Governor J. Hoge 
Tyler and Major Thomas C. Hoge for important genealogi- 
cal data ; to my honored preceptor, Dr. W. Gordon McCabe, 
for directing my attention to the valuable work on the Haigs 
of Bemerside; to the editors of the Richmond Dispatch, 
Richmond \Times and Central Presbyterian for access to their 
files, and for other courtesies; to the Stated Clerks of the 
Synods of Virginia and North Carolina, the Secretaries of 
the Presbyterian Historical Society and of Hampden-Sidney 
College, and the Librarian of Union Theological Seminary, 
for use of, and information from, the records in their hands. 

Special mention is due to my brother, Professor Addison 
Hogue, for his painstaking care in reading the proof-sheets 
and for many valuable suggestions. 

It is with peculiarly tender and grateful emotions that I 
refer, in completing this work, to him with whom it was first 
commenced — the late William Sterling Lacy. Nearly ten 
years ago we planned it together, and the lines on which it 
was then projected have been practically followed in its 
execution. It was then proposed to prepare it jointly, and 
when this was found impracticable I hoped that I would 
at least have the benefit of his exquisite taste and rare literary 
skill before giving it to the public. But even this was ren- 
dered impossible by his failing health, and just when its last 
pages were given to the printers he finished his course, and 
his tender, gracious spirit went to meet his God. 

It only remains to add that I have no pecuniary interest in 
the book, but that it has been throughout a labor of love. 

Louisville, Ky., Nov. 20, 1899. P- H. H. 



1 

013 I 
6 2^7 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. Page. 

Ancestry, i 

CHAPTER II. 

Birth and Boyhood, . . . . . .21 

1 

CHAPTER III. 
Student Days, 38 

CHAPTER IV. 
Preparation for the Ministry, . . . .61 

CHAPTER V. / ^ 

Early Ministry, . 76 

CHAPTER VI. 
In Full Service, . 103 

CHAPTER VII. 
At the Confederate Capital, 134 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Mission to England, . . . . . . .168 

CHAPTER IX. 
William James Hoge, . . . . .198 

CHAPTER X. 

The Valley of the Shadow, 230 

CHAPTER XI. 
Broader Fields, 260 



Vlll 



Contents. 



CHAPTER XII. Page. 

In Labors more Abundant, 301 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Anniversaries, . 331 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Closing Years, 367 

CHAPTER XV. 

Character and Work, 398 



APPENDIX. 

I. Oration. — At the Unveiling of the Statue of Stonewall Jack- 
son, in the Capitol Square, Richmond, Va., October 26, 1876, 425 
II. Address. — At the Mass-Meeting in the Capitol Square, Rich- 
mond, Va., after the Assassination of President Garfield, 
July 5, 1881, . . 448 

III. Family Religion. — An Address Before the Evangelical Alli- 

ance, in Copenhagen, 452 

IV. The Private Soldier. — An Address before the Mass-Meeting 

held in the Interest of the Monument on Libby Hill, Rich- 
mond, Va., November 30, 1892, 456 

V. Address. — In the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, 

Va., December n, 1889, the day appointed by the Governor 
for the Commemoration of the Death of Hon. Jefferson 
Davis, 463 

VI. Memorial Address. — On his Fiftieth Anniversary, in the Sec- 

ond Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va., February 27, 1895, 471 

PRAYERS. 

At the Memorial Mass-meeting in the Capitol Square after the 

"Capitol Disaster," April 29, 1870, 492 

At the Re-interment of Confederate Soldiers in Hollywood, May 

29> 1873 494 

At the Unveiling of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Libby 

Hill, May 30, 1894, 495 



Contents. ix 

Page. 

At the Re-interment of President Davis, May 30, 1893, . . . 496 

At the Dedication of the Confederate Museum, February 22, 1896, 498 

Memorial Day, Hollywood, May 30, 1898, 499 

On Opening the State Democratic Convention, 1889, . . . 501 
On Opening the Session of the House of Delegates, December 4, 

1891, 502 

At the Inauguration of Governor J. Hoge Tyler, January 1, 1898, 502 
On the Opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Greeting 
the Arrival of the First Through Freight from the Ohio to 

the James, February 13, 1873, 504 

At the Dedication of the Chamber of Commerce Building, Decem- 
ber 28, 1893, . . .; 505 

At the Dedication of the New City Hall, February 16, 1894, . . 506 
At the Commencement of the University College of Medicine, 

May 26, 1898, 507 

At the Administration of the Bread at the last Joint Communion 
Service of the Presbyterian Churches of Richmond During 

his Life, January 2, 1898, 50S 



Index, 



"Among the great gifts that God has given to men is the gift of 
men ; and among all the gifts with which God has enriched His church, 
one of the greatest has been the gift of consecrated men, for they are 
the instrumentalities by which the church has been moulded and guided 
and prospered in all the generations of the world." — Moses Drury 
Hoge, Sermon on the death of Dr. Broaches. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Moses drury Hoge. 



CHAPTER I. 



Ancestry. 



"A tree is known by its fruits; and a noble house by a noble man." — 
Arabic Proverb. 



HERE is a pride of ancestry as foolish as it is false. 



1 When a noble name is borne by an ignoble man it only 
serves to make its owner contemptible. But there is a pride 
of ancestry that awakens responsibility ; that stimulates en- 
deavor; that purifies motive and shapes the life to noble 
ends. Consciousness of whence we are may largely de- 
termine what we are. But apart from conscious influence, 
is not the Whence a true cause of the What? Great men 
often arise from very obscure origin. But the historian and 
biographer are never satisfied until they have traced back the 
extraordinary qualities of their hero to a source that is none 
the less real because it is obscure. It takes many streams to 
make the river, and the virtues of many lowly men and 
women struck together in happy combination "to give the 
world assurance of a man." When the streams are on the 
surface, and the same qualities can be traced for generations, 
our task is plainer and our reward surer. And when natural 
virtues are exalted by divine grace, we can rejoice not only 
in the fixedness of Nature's laws, but — what is far better — 
the sureness of the covenant promises of God. 

The oldest reference to the name of Hoge with which we 
have met is in 1425, when "Patrick Hoge and Gilbert Hoge, 
Squiris," are named among the gentlemen who "devydit the 




2 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Marches betwixt Ridbeth and Bemersyde." Sir Andrew 
Haig, the Laird of Bemersyde, preceding the Laird in whose 
time this division was made, had been the first to drop the 
spelling de Haga for the spelling Haig, which is still in use. 
Etymologically the names are the same, and the finding of 
them in the same neighborhood suggests the probability that 
Hoge is only another variant of Haga or Hage, and that 
the Hoges as well as the Haigs are descended from Petrus de 
Haga, who came from Normandy about 1150. This Peter 
of the Dyke — probably from Cape de la Hague in Normandy 
— founded an honorable family, early associated with the 
cause of liberty and patriotism. For — 

" When Wallace came to Gladswood cross, 
Haig of Bemersyde met him with many good horse." 

And before the battle of Stirling the Laird of Bemersyde 
was reassured by his friend "Thomas the Rhymer" with the 
prophecy which still holds good — 

" Tyde what may betyde, 
Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde." 

Or, as Sir W alter puts it — who derived his right to be buried 
in Dryburgh Abbey from his descent from the Haigs — 

" Tide, betide, whate'er betide, 
Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde." 

The Humes, with whom we shall later find the Hoges 
associated, were also a Berwickshire family, and much as- 
sociated with the Haigs of Bemersyde. 

A beautifully engrossed book, containing the family his- 
tory and coat-of-arms, remained in possession of the Penn- 
sylvania branch of the Hoge family in this country within 
the memory of those still living, but cannot now be found. 
In the absence of the written evidence, we will not give the 
interesting details that are recalled by some who were more 
or less familiar with its contents, but will confine ourselves 
to the well-established story of the founder of the family in 
this country. 



Ancestry. 



3 



About the close of the seventeenth century a young man 
named William Hoge — evidently in good circumstances — 
came to America on account of the religious persecutions 
under the Stuarts. In the same ship was a family named 
Hume — father, mother and daughter, Barbara by name. 
Hume was one of two brothers, men of wealth and standing, 
who differed on the great question of the day. One of the 
brothers "conformed" ; the other was true to the Kirk and 
covenant. He was imprisoned and most of his property con- 
fiscated, but through the influence of his brother was released 
on condition of his emigrating to America. During the long 
voyage a pestilence broke out in the overcrowded ship, and 
Mr. and Mrs. Hume were among the victims. Barbara was 
left alone, and William Hoge became her protector. He 
delivered her and her property into the hands of an uncle — 
a physician named Johnson — who was already in New York, 
while he went to Perth-Amboy to make himself a home. 
But it was not a final farewell. An attachment had sprung 
up between them, and in due time he returned to make her 
his wife. 

William Hoge removed from Perth-Amboy to Delaware, 
and then to the Cumberland Valley, in Pennsylvania. Here 
his eldest son John remained, founding the village of Hoge- 
town. In the church founded by him in 1734, there still exist 
an old communion service of hammered pewter and a pulpit 
Bible — the gifts of members of his family. From him is 
sprung a branch of the family scattered from New York to 
California, but chiefly found in Pennsylvania ; men of sub- 
stance and character ; bankers, lawyers, judges, members of 
Congress, with now and then a minister of the gospel; 
leaders in church and state. 1 

1 He married a Welsh heiress, Gwenthelen Bowen Davis. His son, 
David, through a treaty with the Indian Chief Catfish, purchased almost 
the whole of what is now Washington county, and with his nephew, 
David Redick, afterwards vice-president of Pennsylvania, laid off the 
town of Catfish, now Washington. His sons, John and William, were 



4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



But William Hoge found not here his resting place. 
About 1735, though advanced in years, he removed to Fred- 
erick county, Va., on the Opequon branch of the Potomac. 
Here he made his home. Here he gave land for church and 
school and burying ground — the old Opequon Church — the 
first place of worship in the Valley of Virginia. Its first 
regular 'minister was his grandson, the Rev. John Hoge, 
son of his oldest son John. He came fresh from Nassau 
Hall, where he graduated in the first class sent out by that 
venerable institution. After a useful ministry in Virginia, 
he returned to Pennsylvania. While pastor at Opequon he 
received a visit from the Rev. Hugh McAden, on his way 
to his pioneer mission in North Carolina, where now 1 a 
great-great-great-grandson of William Hoge preaches to the 
great-great-grandchildren of Hugh McAden. There are 
still some things fixed in this changing world, and more 
changeful land. 

William Hoge lived full ninety years. He saw his children 
and grandchildren serving God and their generation; the 
honest, God-fearing makers of a new world. God made him 
forget all his toil and all his father's house. He sleeps in 
the old Opequon church-yard. 

The old church lived on for generations. Three succes- 
sive buildings arose on the spot, and its sons and daughters 
went forth into many States, though many sleep around it. 
At length it was outgrown, and in time superseded, by the 
daughter church of Winchester. But recently the crumbling 
stones have been built anew; a memorial of the worthy 
dead. 

both members of Congress. Another son, David, was the first receiver 
of the United States Land Office, with headquarters at Steubenville, 
Ohio. Justice Shiras, of the United States Supreme Court, is a de- 
scendant of ^one of his daughters. William and Thomas Scott Hoge, of 
the long-closed banking house of William Hoge and Company, New 
York, were sons of David Hoge, of Steubenville. These are but a few 
representative names. 

1 Written before his recent removal. 



Ancestry. 



5 



John was the only one of William Hoge's sons who set- 
tled in Pennsylvania. The others moved with their father 
to Virginia; William, who married a Quakeress and joined 
the sect, leaving many descendants ; George, who removed 
to the South; James, of whom Ave shall have more to 
say; and Alexander, who was a member of the First Con- 
gress of the United States, and of the Virginia convention 
that ratified the Constitution. 

Our concern is with the fourth son, James ; and of him we 
know more ; a man of robust intellect and a self-taught the- 
ologian. Dr. Archibald Alexander, when a young licen- 
tiate, visited him, and was impressed with the vigor of his 
mind and the clearness of his views even in old age. In early 
life he satisfied himself of the scripturalness of every state- 
ment of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and when the 
"Synod of New York and Philadelphia" introduced certain 
changes, he withdrew from its communion and united 
with the Scotch secession. Twice a year he went to a 
church in Pennsylvania to participate in the communion. 
Late in life his scruples were removed, through the instru- 
mentality of his son. He died June 2, 1795, at an advanced 
age. 

James Hoge was twice married, and had many children. 
We need name but two, James and Moses. 

James, a son of his first wife, Agnes, left home in search 
of his brother John, who was supposed to have joined Brad- 
dock's army and to have been killed at Fort DuOuesne. He 
did not find his brother, but he found a home and a wife, and 
settled in Pulaski county. His homestead is now the home 
of his great-grandson, the Honorable J. Hoge Tyler, the 
present Governor of Virginia. His son was General James 
Hoge, 1 a man of fine intellect and one of the handsomest men 
in the State. His son, Daniel Hoge, was elected to Congress 

1 This branch of the family seems to have been the fighting stock. 
Brigadier-General Funston, who has distinguished himself in the Philip- 
pines, is a great-grandson of General Hoge. 



6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



in 1865, an d was a brilliant and popular speaker. The de- 
scendants of James Hoge, of Pulaski, have not only been 
prominent in the State, but many of them have been influ- 
ential as ruling elders in the councils of the church. They 
have kept in close intimacy with the descendants of the other 
son of James Hoge, of Frederick, of whom we must speak at 
more length. 

Moses Hoge was the ninth son of his father, and the 
fourth son of his mother, Nancy Griffiths. He was born at 
Cedar Grove — his father's home in Frederick — February 15, 
1752. His mother is described as of "respectable understand- 
ing and sincere piety," but his remarkable endowments seem 
to have come from his father. Saint, scholar and preacher, 
it is difficult to say whether gifts or graces were most pre- 
eminent. His intellect grasped the Calvinistic system in its 
entirety before he had even an academic education ; his heart 
was so tender that he wept — so his students said — over the 
fate of the devils, to whom no mercy was offered. Of his 
own experience he said that he had never known the time 
when he had not loved the Lord; yet he never knew the 
time when he thought he loved him as he ought. His piety 
was of that old-fashioned Brainerd type, that wept in secret 
over imperfections that no one else discovered, and agonized 
in prayer over the souls committed to his charge; all of 
which we may see from his journal. From devotions like 
these he went into his pulpit, and men trembled and prayed 
and believed at his word. There might be more of such 
praying and such preaching now; to the advantage of our 
times. 

Nobody reads now his "Strictures on a Pamphlet by the 
Rev. Jeremiah Walker Entitled the Fourfold Foundation 
of Calvinism Examined and Shaken;" but it is the testi- 
mony of no less an authority than the late Dr. Dabney, 
that it was he who impressed upon the Virginia ministry that 
moderate type of evangelical Calvinism that has ever since 
distinguished it ; and Archibald Alexander was in his youth 



Ancestry. 



7 



indebted to him for correcter views of divine grace in regen- 
eration; 1 thus Princeton felt his impress, and his line went 
out into all the earth. His Sophist Unmasked, a reply to 
Payne, no longer meets the attacks of infidelity; but his 
preaching, and his teaching, and his life, did much to stem the 
tide of Atheism and of "French infidelity" in his day. Five 
years of missionary work in Hampshire county; twenty 
years laboring for souls in Shepherdstown, whose church he 
founded; thirteen years preaching and teaching and pre- 
paring men for the ministry at Hampden-Sidney — this was 
the brief measure of his life-work. For he lived not long, 
and he began late. He succeeded Archibald Alexander as 
president of Hampden-Sidney — a much younger man ; but at 
the age when Archibald Alexander entered upon those duties, 
Moses Hoge had not even entered an academy. Whither he 
might never have gone, had not two strangers been so im- 
pressed with his self-taught acquirements as to persuade his 
father to give him a liberal education — no easy thing in 
those times. Started on this, he stopped for a year to vol- 
unteer in the revolutionary army. Then three years under 
Dr. Graham in academic training at Liberty Hall, and 
two years more of divinity under the same teacher ; such was 
his preparation. It was not the age of specialists, but solid 
and well-rounded scholars turned out scholars as solid and 
well-rounded as themselves. 

While the histories of Union Theological Seminary have 
never ignored the preliminary work of Dr. Hoge, it has 
generally been assumed that its distinct organic life began 
with Dr. Rice. This seems hardly true to history; nor 
does it at all detract from the "mart of the large honors" 
well earned by Dr. Rice by his great labors in enlarging 
and endowing it. No more are his labors set aside by the 

1 Dr. Alexander's biographer refers this to his father, James Hoge. 
But Dr. Alexander's own statement, which is quoted, has been misunder- 
stood. Life of Dr. Alexander, p. 120. The reference on page 91 is to 
the father. 



8 Moses Drury Hoge. 

men of our own time in giving it a fitter location and a more 
splendid equipment. 

The Theological School under Dr. Hoge was not a mere 
department of the college, but a separate and distinct 
institution, founded by the Synod of Virginia, who elected 
Dr. Hoge its professor in the same year that the General 
Assembly called Dr. Alexander to Princeton. In that 
year ( 1812), and not in 1823, the history of our Theological 
Seminary begins. 1 Dr. Hoge was faithful to the college, 
but he spent himself and his substance for the Theological 
Seminary. And as long as he was willing to do this the 
Synod was content to let him do it ; only when he was gone 
was it roused to the necessity of a more liberal provision; 
and but for Dr. Rice it is questionable whether anything 

1 On what ground can the present seminary be considered a different 
institution? Because Dr. Hoge had no distinct building? Dr. Rice 
taught his first classes in President Cushing's kitchen. Because 
Dr. Hoge was also president of the college? The seminary has 
always permitted her professors to hold other positions; as, for in- 
stance, to be pastors of churches. Because of the change of control? 
During Dr. Rice's time, Hanover Presbytery handed it over to the 
Synods of Virginia and North Carolina, as, after Dr. Hoge's death, 
the Synod of Virginia had handed it over to the Presbytery. Because 
of the change of name? The present name was not adopted until the 
joint control was established. Because it had no board of Trustees? 
Their names are recorded in the manuscript Life of Dr. Hoge, and 
their reports were regularly called for in the Synod (see Minutes). 
Because it had no charter? A charter was applied for by petition of 
the board, and refused on the same ground that it was refused down to 
1868, and in 1816 the Synod appointed "John H. Rice, William Wirt r 
LL. D., and Benjamin Harrison to draw up a memorial, stating the dis- 
advantages under which the Synod lies from the refusal of the Legisla- 
ture to grant a charter to the trustees of the Theological Seminary." 
(Dr. Rice's connection with this matter has probably led to the idea 
that it was during his administration.) Because it had no endowment? 
The salary of the professor and aid to students were paid from its funds, 
and the Synod turned over to the Presbytery eight thousand seven hun- 
dred and fifty-six dollars and four cents — the nucleus of the present 
endowment of the Seminary. Because its exercises were suspended upon 
Dr. Hoge's death? But the continuity was preserved by the guar- 
dianship of its funds by the Synod and Presbytery. During t he civil 
war the exercises were again practically suspended. 



Ancestry. 



9 



would have been done even then; all of which may be read 
more amply told in Foote. 

Dr. Hoge's first wife — and the mother of all his chil- 
dren — was Elizabeth Poage, a member of that remarkable 
family of the Valley of Virginia that has given to the church 
about two hundred ministers, ministers' wives and mission- 
aries. A saintly and lovable person she seems to have been, 
and he lavished on her all the tenderness of his affectionate 
nature. Yet when she died he had the extraordinary firm- 
ness to stand by her open grave and preach with a pathos that 
melted every heart in the astonished assembly, on the text, 
"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." There were 
strong men in those days, and eternal things were very real. 
Personal grief must be crushed down that souls might be 
saved. 

His second wife, and the companion of his labors at 
Hampden-Sidney, was Mrs. Susan Hunt, mentioned as 
Susan Watkins, in the Life of Doctor Alexander, with grati- 
tude for her conversation during the "great revival"; a 
noble and helpful wife, sharing his sacrifices and spending 
her substance, as he spent his, to help needy students. Her 
son, brought up by Dr. Hoge, was the well-known 
Thomas P. Hunt, celebrated in his day as a temperance 
lecturer. 

Death came to Dr. Hoge in Philadelphia, where he had 
gone to attend the General Assembly. "Translated," as his 
epitaph says, "from the General Assembly on earth to the 
general assembly and church of the firstborn." He died 
July 5, 1820, aged sixty-eight years, and is buried near his 
old friend, John Blair Smith. He had just visited the grave- 
yard at Princeton with Dr. Alexander, where he too has 
long lain, and enjoyed delightful intercourse with his friend; 
doubtless long ago renewed above. 

There are many delightful stories afloat of Dr. Hoge's 
saintly character, especially of his unworldliness ; one of his 
quiet courage may be told, because authenticated. During 



10 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the "Western insurrection" he was anxious for the Synod 
of Virginia to make a deliverance against lawlessness. 
The measure failed, as savoring of politics, and the Vir- 
ginia troops quartered at Harrisonburg (where the Synod 
was meeting) on their way to the scene of the insurrection, 
were much incensed; the talk was of tar and feathers for 
some of the dignitaries; but Dr. Hoge worked his way to 
the midst of them, and not only dissuaded them from their 
purpose, but made such an impression upon them that they 
asked him to preach ; and the mob was turned into a congre- 
gation. The story justifies John Randolph's opinion that 
there were only two men who could bring quiet to a certain 
court-green on court day — "Patrick Henry by his eloquence, 
and Dr. Hoge by simply passing through." 

This same keen-eyed Randolph has given the best picture 
of the man. Cowper drew the portrait, Randolph made the 
application. The poet says : 

" I venerate the man whose heart is warm, 
Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, 
Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
That he is honest in the sacred cause. 
To such I render more than mere respect, 
Whose actions say that they respect themselves." 

And farther on : 

" Would I describe a preacher such as Paul, 
Were he on earth, would hear, approve and own — 
Paul should himself direct me. I would trace 
His master strokes and draw from his design. 
I would express him simple, grave, sincere; 
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain, 
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, 
And natural in gesture; much impressed 
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
May feel it too; affectionate in look, 
And tender in address, as well becomes 
A messenger of grace to guilty men." 

By each of these passages, in a copy of Cowper purchased 
from Randolph's library, is written in his hand, "Mr. Hoge." 



Ancestry. 



ii 



But now of him no more, though on such a life the pen 
delights to linger. He bequeathed to his descendants little 
of this world's goods. But he left them a name that they 
treasure as above great riches. The venerable Dr. Plumer 
once said, on seeing one of the younger descendants, "He 
has the Hoge jerk." One may be glad to be marked 
as the descendant of such a man, even by an ungraceful 
gesture. 

Four of Dr. Hoge's sons grew to manhood; three be- 
came ministers of the gospel in his life-time ; the fourth was 
a beloved physician and an honored ruling elder in the 
church. 

James Hoge, the eldest, was the pioneer Presbyterian mis- 
sionary of Ohio. His parish extended to the Mississippi, 
but he settled in Columbus, Ohio, where he built the first 
house, and which he saw grow up around him. He organ- 
ized the First Presbyterian Church, and celebrated his jubi- 
lee as its pastor. His experience differed from that of his 
nephew — to be hereafter related — in that it was not his only 
charge, and that he had retired from active service two years 
before. He was the founder of many of the great charitable 
institutions of the State. When President Hayes and his 
Cabinet visited Richmond, Va., in 1877, and met his nephew, 
Mr. Hayes and Mr. Sherman told him that they could not 
remember the time when they had not learned to revere 
the name of Hoge. We shall hear of him again in these 
pages. 

Dr. James Hoge had one son in the ministry, the late 
Rev. Dr. Moses A. Hoge, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who 
was married to the well-known evangelist of Alabama, the 
Rev. Dr. Robert Nail, and was the mother of the Rev. Dr. 
James Hoge Nail, of New Orleans, and the Rev. Dr. Robert 
H. Nail, of Greenwood, S. C. 

John Blair Hoge was the most gifted of the sons. He 
began to study for the law, but early felt the divine call, and 
gave himself to the gospel ministry. He inherited the feeble 



12 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



constitution of his mother, and in the autumn of 1814 went 
to the south of France for the recovery of his health, running 
in the night the British blockade of New York. "On the 
eighth day we fell in with the British seventy-four gun ship 
Bellerophon, 1 Captain Hawkes. We were of course brought 
to, and boarded by some of the officers. They examined our 
papers and endorsed them as being under Swedish colors. 
They inquired if there were any Americans on board. Had 
he asked me I should not have hesitated to say, 'Yes' ; but 
the captain, of whom the inquiry was made, answered in the 
negative. We were, therefore, without further examination, 
suffered to proceed. Had it been known that our whole 
establishment was an imposition — that the vessel was Amer- 
ican and had been captured from the British, and that there 
were six Americans aboard — perhaps we might not have 
escaped with so much facility. The deception was not then 
generally known to the passengers." They landed at St. 
Martin's, Isle de Re, on the thirty-first day. 

The pile of old faded letters, from the first of which we have 
quoted, lies before us. The next (January 22, 1815) speaks 
of the rumor of peace with Great Britain; the next (March 
4th) of Napoleon's return from Elba; the next, of his tri- 
umphant, unimpeded progress to Paris. Another says : "I 
was in Paris when Napoleon returned after losing the 
battle of Waterloo, and when he abdicated. I was present 
when Louis XVIII. made his triumphal entrance into his 
capital. Notwithstanding the clamors of the multitude, it 
was a poor triumph, when the way to the hearts of his 
subjects — over which a monarch ought to rule — was opened 
and cleared by more than two hundred thousand foreign- 
bayonets." 2 

This was a trip to Europe that one cannot have every day ; 
but its history cannot be followed further. Mr. Hoge re- 

1 Which afterwards took Napoleon to Saint Helena. 

2 Recalling a witticism of that day, that you can do almost anything 
with bayonets — except sit on them; as Louis soon found. 



Ancestry. 



13 



tnained abroad about two years. His letters reveal an ele- 
gant, scholarly mind, cultivated by the best literature, and 
intent on extending its attainments. He returned somewhat 
improved in health and much enriched in mind, with deeper 
views of life and a profounder impression of the value of 
religion from seeing the state of countries that had all things 
else and lacked that. His ministry was much sought after 
when he began to preach — a boy of twenty. He was only 
twenty-six now ; but for the ten years of life that remained 
to him, though much interrupted by ill health, he was pro- 
bably the most brilliant preacher in Virginia. The impres- 
sion of his oratory upon his contemporaries was of a force 
overmastering, almost magical. It was so in the rural con- 
gregations of Tuscarora and Falling Waters. It was yet 
more so after he removed to Richmond, 1 and the most bril- 
liant professional men of Virginia sought his ministry. One 
of the eminent men of the present day tells how his father 
used to describe one of his sermons as surpassing in the 
flight of its oratory anything he had ever heard; when he 
had risen from climax to climax of appeal, he suddenly 
turned from the congregation and apostrophized the record- 
ing angel, praying him to stay his hand and not seal up the 
doom of the impenitent until once more he presented to them 
the offer of mercy. He had not completed his thirty-sixth 
year when he finished his labors, March 31, 1826. 

He left a manuscript life of his father. The publisher's 
•copy was destroyed by a fire in the publishing house, and the 
previous death of the author prevented its preparation again 
for publication. 2 

Samuel Davies Hoge was the third of Dr. "Hoge's sons 
to reach manhood. He was born in Shepherdstown pro- 

1 In 1822, as the successor to the Rev. John D. Blair, of the "Church 
• on Shockoe Hill" — now "Grace Street." 

2 A copy of the MS. is in the library of Union Theological Seminary, 
Richmond, Va., presented by his son, the late Judge John Blair Hoge, 
»of Martinsburg, W. Va. 



14 Moses Drury Hoge. 



bably 1 on April 16, 1792, when we find the following entry 
in his father's journal : 

Another young immortal is committed to my care. I 
thank thee, O Lord, for all thy goodness to me and to my 
dear wife. Continue thy goodness with us and bless our 
offspring. Bless, I humbly pray thee, this infant. May he 
see many days, if it be thy holy will, and may he do much 
for thy glory. To thee, O Lord, do I solemnly devote him. 
May he be thy child and an heir of glory everlasting. 

Davies, as he was called, received his early education from 
his father, and from the young men studying for the min- 
istry with his father. Later he attended a classical school 
taught by his brother James in Augusta county, before his 
removal to Ohio. 

He was early a subject of divine grace, and in his youth 
made a public confession of his faith. His sensitive and 
delicate organization rendered him peculiarly susceptible to 
the strange physical and mental influences that accompanied 
the revivals of those days. When about nine years old he 
accompanied his parents on a trip to the South, undertaken 
for the sake of his mother's health, and, attending one of 
these meetings, "he became a subject of powerful excite- 
ment, and prayed, and exhorted the crowd which gathered 
around him with astonishing fervor and effect." While with 
his brother in Augusta he was a subject of the mysterious 
"falling exercise," in which men suddenly fell perfectly rigid 
under the powerful warnings of the pulpit. He reported 
afterwards that he was perfectly conscious and his thoughts 
were engaged on the subject of religion. These excitements 
passed away, and ever afterward the current of his religious 
life flowed calm and clear. 

1 Mr. Hoge's age as given on his tomb would place his birth in 1793. 
If this is correct, the infant referred to above died in infancy. In any 
case, the record illustrates Dr. Hoge's custom, and accounts for the 
blessing that has rested on his offspring to the third and fourth gen- 
eration. 



Ancestry. 



15 



When his father became president of Hampden-Sidney 
College, he was entered as a student, and was graduated in 
1810. He entered at once upon a course of theology with 
his father, serving meanwhile as a tutor in the college. His 
licensure took place at a meeting of Hanover Presbytery in 
Lynchburg, on May 8, 181 3. His father presided on the 
occasion, and presented him with a Bible that had belonged 
to his mother, "with an appeal that filled the house with 
audible weeping." 

The brief story of his life will be told elsewhere. 

Thomas Hoge was the youngest of the sons. Born in 
1799, he had just come of age when his father died. Choos- 
ing the profession of medicine, as early as 1823 he was 
reported to be "very popular for his skill and humanity." 
He was well advanced in life before he made a profession of 
religion. But his brother Tames came all the way from Ohio 
to make him a visit with this special burden on his heart. 
He was. of course, invited to preach in the neighboring 
church, and the sermon was blessed in bringing his brother 
to Christ. 

The origin of the Lacy family in Virginia is even more 
romantic than that of the Hoges. The name is an honored 
one in English history, occurring on the rolls of Battle Abbey 
and among the barons who signed Magna Charta. Mr. 
Hugh Blair Grigsby, the eminent authority on the history 
and genealogy of Virginia families, who had spent some time 
in the family of the Rev. Drury Lacy, believed that the 
Lacys of Virginia were from that noble stock. The investi- 
gations of Mr. Graham G. Lacy, assisted by the Countess of 
Chesterfield, tend to confirm that view, and to make it pro- 
bable that the founder of the family in America was a de- 
scendant of the Thornhill branch of the Lacy family in 
Yorkshire. However that may be, one Thomas Lacy left 
England about 1685. and set sail for America. The vessel 
was captured by the celebrated pirate Tieck, or Blackbeard, 



i6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



and all were made to walk the plank but Lacy and one other, 
who, Tieck said, were too fine-looking fellows not to be 
pirates. The vessel put into one of the inlets of North Caro- 
lina, and was captured by an expedition organized by the 
Governors of Virginia and North Carolina, under Lieuten- 
ant Maynard. There was a fierce fight on board, in which 
Lacy seized a cutlass, and rushed on deck, crying, "I am a 
true man and no pirate," and did such execution that he 
turned the tide of battle. Blackbeard was captured and 
hung, with all his crew, and Lacy was rewardeol^with the 
grant of a tract of land near Manikin-town, below - Rich- 
mond, and there married one Ann Burnley. 

His son, William Lacy, of Chesterfield county, was 
a planter in comfortable circumstances, who, we are told, 
"was distinguished more for his hospitality than for his 
carefulness in the management of his estate or the education 
of his children." His wife was Elizabeth Rice, a woman of 
devoted piety. The celebrated Dr. Rice was of the same 
family. Their son, Drury Lacy, was born October 5, 1758. 
His mother died when he was about ten years old, and his 
father when he was sixteen. His patrimony was gone; his 
education was meagre, and he had lost his left hand by the 
explosion of a gun, which a cowardly soldier at a county 
muster asked him to fire, having loaded it so deep that he 
was afraid to fire it himself. 

But it was these hard conditions that brought out the 
man in him. Manual pursuits being out of the question, he 
devoted himself to the cultivation of his mind, which was of 
great natural vigor. At the age of eighteen he became a 
teacher in the family of Mr. Daniel Allen, an elder in the 
Presbyterian Church in Cumberland county. The church 
was supplied at the time by the Rev. John Blair Smith, 
president of Hampden-Sidney College. Under his ministry 
he united with the Presbyterian Church. Meanwhile, by his 
own efforts, he was acquiring a good knowledge of mathe- 
matics and the English branches. He afterwards taught in 



Ancestry. 



17 



the family of Colonel Nash, of Prince Edward, the father- 
in-law of President Smith, where he had the privilege of 
Dr. Smith's instruction for an hour or two a week. In 
this way he acquired sufficient knowledge of Latin and Greek 
to be appointed tutor in the college at the age of twenty- 
three. He studied theology under Dr. Smith, and was 
licensed to preach September, 1787, and ordained the follow- 
ing year. To lighten the burdens of the president, he was 
elected vice-president of the college, and, on Dr. Smith's 
resignation to go to Philadelphia, he became for several 
years the acting president. During a part of this time he 
was associated with Archibald Alexander as collegiate pas- 
tor of a large group of churches in Charlotte, Prince Edward 
and Cumberland counties. On the division of the field he 
retired from the college in 1796, being succeeded by Dr. 
Alexander. He then lived on his farm, "Mount Ararat," 
near Hampden-Sidney, and besides supplying the neighbor- 
ing churches taught a classical school. 1 

Mr. Lacy was much sought after for special services, 
where his peculiar gifts were most useful. His tender, emo- 
tional nature and fervent piety made his preaching very 
effective in times of religious interest, while his voice, of 
great power and beauty, enabled him to speak to vast crowds 
out of doors as no one else could. He was called "Lacy of 
the silver hand 2 and the silver tongue." He was also of 
elegant presence and of rare social qualities. An old lady 
said that "he exceeded any one she ever saw at a sacrament 
and at a wedding." Unlike many preachers, he was a fine 
listener. Mrs. John H. Rice says, "I can in no way bring 

1 Of this school the late Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby said, in his 
Historical Discourse at the Hampden-Sidney centennial : " I was one 
of those pupils and bear my testimony to his thorough teaching of the 
Latin tongue. Though sixty-one years have passed since I was under 
Ms care, I feel the influence of his teachings on my mind and character 
at this moment and pointing the very thought I am now pressing upon 
you." 

2 From the artificial silver hand he used to replace his lost member. 



i8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



him more plainly before me than by thinking of him as he 
was listening to Dr. Alexander's eloquence, and casting 
his deep blue eyes over the congregation, with the tears 
streaming down his cheeks, to notice the effect which it pro- 
duced." 

This recalls what Dr. William Hoge wrote of his son 
and namesake, Dr. Drury Lacy, of North Carolina : 

Uncle Drury is about the best hearer in the world. He 
leans forward and drinks in with his whole face and form 
and all his senses. He reflects every emotion, beaming on 
you if you are cheerful, and weeping if you are tender. 
Even then he does not hide his face with a handkerchief, 
but beams on, and lets the big, honest tears roll and take 
care of themselves. If I had a whole audience of Uncle 
Drurys, I should think I was the greatest orator in the 
world. If every face were such a mirror of emotion, the 
speaker who stood in the focus would be consumed. 

Another characteristic that he bequeathed to many of his 
descendants was the extraordinary beauty of his handwrit- 
ing. The records of Hanover Presbytery while he was 
stated clerk are marvels of elegance, as are his diary, letters 
and collection of mathematical problems. 

In October, 1810, Dr. Rice wrote to Dr. Alexander: 

Have you heard of Mr. Lacy's trip to Richmond last 
month, and of the effects which his preaching produced? 
I have understood that a number of persons since that 
time have determined, if possible, to get some evangelical 
preacher to live in the place. . . . From some commu- 
nications that have been made to me, I have reason to 
believe that they depend on me to do the work for them. 

This movement was stimulated by the burning of the 
Richmond Theatre in 181 1, when under that dispensation of 
sorrow Dr. Rice was so importuned by the people that he 
undertook the work. There had long been preaching in the 
Capitol by "Parson Blair" on alternate Sundays, but the con- 
gregations thus gathered lived on Shockoe Hill, and did not 



Ancestry. 



19 



reach the mercantile and laboring classes, which were then 
grouped about "Rocketts." At his installation in October, 
18 12, Dr. Hoge presided and " gave the charge to the 
minister and congregation in his most moving and affecting 
manner." Thus Moses Hoge and Drury Lacy were both 
associated with the founding of that church which was the 
means of bringing to Richmond thirty-two years later the 
grandson and namesake of both. 

Mr. Lacy was Moderator of the General Assembly in 
Philadelphia in 1809. He was unable to attend the follow- 
ing year, and arranged for Dr. Rice to preach the opening 
sermon. The relation between these two men was most re- 
markable. They were distantly related themselves, but were 
much more nearly connected by marriage. Drury Lacy 
married Anne, the daughter of William Smith, of Powha- 
tan. Dr. Rice married her namesake, the daughter of her 
sister Mary, who was the wife of Major William Morton; 
a couple justly celebrated in all the histories of early Presby- 
terianism in Virginia. The last five years of Mr. Lacy's 
life his preaching underwent a marked change. Always 
fervent and at times great, it became now more' studied and 
uniformly strong. He said, "I owe it all to Jack Rice." 
Contact with the younger man caused him to develop a more 
systematic and thorough style of preparation, and to display 
even higher mental gifts than had been attributed to him. 
But in all his ministry he had the joy of winning souls, both 
by his preaching and by his private religious conversation, 
in which he was peculiarly gifted. 

He died in Philadelphia December 6, 18 15, from the 
effects of a surgical operation. His letter to his wife an- 
nouncing the necessity of the operation was full of tender 
farewell and calm hope in God. But it was not needed. 
She was taken with fever just after he left home and died 
before him. He never knew it until they met on the other 
side. He was buried in the graveyard of the Third Presby- 
terian Church. 



20 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Of the three sons of Mr. Lacy, William and Drury be- 
came ministers and Horace a physician — all useful and hon- 
ored in their generation ; all lived to venerable years. 

William Lacy spent his ministry in Arkansas; Drury in 
North Carolina. They served the church faithfully in their 
youth and manhood, and in their beautiful old age they were 
the ornaments of their synods; their hoary heads were a 
crown of glory and their countenances beamed with the 
beauty of holiness. William became blind in his old age, 
but the light of another world shone so into his soul that 
people came from far to listen to his conversation, that 
flowed like a silver stream, sometimes falling into verse. 
When Drury finished his course, he came in from a walk, 
lay down for a nap, and awoke in heaven. Dr. Horace Lacy's 
useful and honorable life was spent in his native county of 
Prince Edward. Dr. William Lacy was the father of the 
Rev. Dr. Beverly Tucker Lacy, now of Washington, D. C, 
and of Major J. Horace Lacy, of Fredericksburg, whose son 
is the Rev. J. Llorace Lacy, of Clarksville, Tenn. Dr. Drury 
Lacy was the father of the Rev. Dr. William S. Lacy, of 
Norfolk, Va. Dr. Horace Lacy was the father of the Rev. 
Dr. Matthew L. Lacy, of Greenbrier county, W. Va. 

Mr. Lacy had two daughters ; the younger, Judith, mar- 
ried the Rev. James Brookes, and was the mother of the late 
Rev. Dr. James H. Brookes, of St. Louis. The elder, Eliza- 
beth Rice, was married to Samuel Davies Hoge. 

The older ministers of Virginia used to say that a sermon 
composed by Moses Hoge and delivered by Drury Lacy 
would be the masterpiece of pulpit eloquence. Which thing 
was yet to be ; but not in that generation. 



CHAPTER II. 
Birth and Boyhood. 

"Which of the little boys now living and playing, and vexing their mothers 
often, will God sovereignly choose to be a Newton or a Haldane or a Brainerd?" 
— William James Hoge. 

BEFORE the days of railroads, Hampden-Sidney was on 
the great highway from Washington to the South, and 
many distinguished men passed that way. Prince Edward 
Court-house was only a mile away and drew to itself a bril- 
liant bar, at the head of which were Patrick Henry and John 
Randolph, surrounded by men less known to fame, but fit 
to adorn the highest places in the profession. You will not 
find in the encyclopedias of American biography the name 
of Samuel J. Anderson, but when he made an argument in 
the General Assembly it was discovered that he was the peer 
of the leading minds of the church. Henry E. Watkins had 
no national reputation, but his manners would have graced 
the court of St. James. When a distinguished Virginian — 
recently retired from the New York bench — rebuked the 
wrangling of two attorneys by the remark, "In this court 
it is as necessary to study Chesterfield as Blackstone," he 
was but reflecting the traditions of the society in which he 
had been reared and the courts in which he had earliest prac- 
ticed. 1 The homes of the neighboring planters were like- 

1 After this was written, I discovered a fragment of a letter of my 
uncle's that runs as follows : 

" It is well to put upon permanent record the virtues and services of 
the men who formed these county courts. The fact that the changed 
condition of things in Virginia made the continuance of these benches 
of intelligent and upright magistrates impracticable is the sad fact in 
our history. When my native county of Prince Edward had men like 
old Colonel Venable and Major John Morton ("Solid Column" was 
his sobriquet) to dispense justice, it was administered with an intelli- 



22 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



wise the seats of culture and refinement and Christian cour- 
tesy. In time the college and seminary created their own 
community, and as the old plantations went down under 
changed conditions, the culture and refinement of the county 
became more and more centred in "The Hill." 

To the students of Hampden-Sidney the doors of this 
society have always been thrown open with a cordial wel- 
come and a gracious hospitality, and the social atmosphere 
into which they were thus brought has been no small part 
of the education Hampden-Sidney has given her students. 

Nor did her kindness stop there. These gracious influ- 
ences were given freely to all ; to some she gave more — her 
fair daughters. When a few years ago a certain presidential 
ticket was announced, and it became known that the wife of 
the vice-presidential candidate was a " Hampden-Sidney 
girl," there were many who knew at once that she would not 
suffer by comparison with the charming lady with whom she 
was to be associated, whose youth and beauty and goodness 
had already won the hearts of the nation. 

But the layman who has secured one of these treasures for 
himself is a rara avis. From the days of John Blair Smith 
and John Holt Rice the ministry has regarded this field as 
its own preserve, and for more than a century Hampden- 
Sidney and Prince Edward have given their daughters to 
grace the manses of our land. And of all this noble army 
— not of martyrs, let us hope — none were nobler than Eliz- 
abeth Rice Lacy, whom Samuel Davies Hoge wooed and 

gent integrity never surpassed by any tribunal. When all the people of 
the county came together on court day to discuss social, business and 
political affairs, the result was a general diffusion of information about 
things worth knowing, that was in itself an education, and, better still, 
the creation of a kindly, neighborly and friendly feeling that made them 
homogeneous, and contributed something to refinement of character. 
You probably never heard that when my venerable grandfather, Dr. 
Moses Hoge, was president of Hampden-Sidney College, he gave the 
students holiday on every court day, because, he said, they could learn 
more from John Randolph and others who addressed the citizens from 
the hustings than they could learn from their text-books." 



Birth and Boyhood. 



23 



won for his bride. Wherever she went in after life — and she 
had her years of change and sadness — people looked up to 
her as one not altogether of themselves, even while they 
came to her with confidence as the unfailing and helpful 
friend. Of her youth Mr. Grigsby gives a charming picture 
in his Historical Discourse. Speaking of a fever through 
which he passed while a pupil at her father's, he said, "It 
was at the earliest dawn of a sweet September morning in 
18 1 5 that, after a long interval of delirium, I opened my 
eyes for the first time in a conscious state. One of the 
daughters of Mr. Lacy had stolen from her room on tiptoe 
to see whether I was still living. As I looked up, the face of 
a lovely girl, her black eyes 1 shaded by long, dark lashes, 
her glowing skin reflecting an Italian rather than a Saxon 
hue, and her raven tresses falling in ringlets about her neck, 
was bending over me. Sixty-one years of mingled joys and 
sorrows have rolled over my head since I beheld that charm- 
ing vision. Often has it come before me in the dead of night 
when nature was moving to the music of the spheres. I 
have thought of it as I climbed the dizzy mountain height, 
or as I strolled by the shores of the sea. Its features some- 
times flash upon me from the pages of Milton, and I catch 
them in the Briseis of Homer. It is before me now, and I 
shall never forget it. Nor, sir," turning to Dr. Hoge, "will 
you ever forget it, for it was the face of your long-lost, 
long-lamented, and ever-lovely mother." 

Those who knew her in maturer life describe her as of 
tall and stately mien, with dark brown hair, olive complexion 
and dark, expressive gray eyes. Her eldest son said of her, 
"She looked a queen and ought to have been one." 

The marriage was in February, 18 17. We can picture to 
ourselves the wedding at Mt. Ararat in the bright winter 
days, when the great hickory fires crackle on the ample 
hearth. We can fancy the bustle of baking and brewing 

1 A natural mistake. They were very dark gray. The same mistake 
has been made about Dr. Hoge's eyes. 



24 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



in preparation of the good cheer to come. We can see 
the goodly company as they gather with good-will in their 
hearts and good wishes on their lips. We miss the beaming 
face of Mr. Lacy, always at his best at weddings; the 
mother, too, we miss; both gone more than two years be- 
fore. But old Dr. Hoge is there, about to receive for the 
first time a daughter to his arms and his heart, and his grave 
features are lighted up with genial kindness. At length the 
bridegroom, his pale, intellectual face glowing with joy and 
pride, stands before his father with his girlish bride on his 
arm. The company draws nearer, and a circle of black 
faces closes in the bright picture like an ebony frame. Then, 
amid a solemn hush, the words are pronounced that make 
two lives one, and a father's voice invokes a heavenly Fa- 
ther's love and benediction. And that love never failed; 
nor did theirs. Days of suffering came, and of sadness, and 
days when one must walk alone; but the blessing of that 
day abode with them always ; and abides with them still. 

At the time of his marriage Mr. Hoge was pastor of 
Bethesda Church, at Culpeper Court-house. He entered 
this field soon after he was licensed, giving two Sundays a 
month to Culpeper, whose church was organized under his 
ministry, and the other Sundays in the month to Madison 
Court-house and a point called "Germanna." Having been 
transferred to Winchester Presbytery, order for his ordina- 
tion was taken in October, 1814, and at Bethesda April 15, 
181 5, he was ordained, and installed pastor of the church. 
The church proved unable to support a minister, and after 
his marriage he applied for the dissolution of his pastoral 
relations, which was granted October 13, 18 17. There are 
some interesting reminiscences of his ministry at Bethesda 
preserved in the congregation, which still exists under the 
name of Culpeper. His ministry was zealous and laborious ; 
he took an active interest in the affairs of presbytery, and 
in 18 16 he represented it as a commissioner to the General 
Assembly. 



Birth and Boyhood. 



25 



After the dissolution of his pastoral relations Mr. Hoge 
remained at Hampden-Sidney as professor, and for a time 
vice-president of the college, living in the house west of the 
college building, afterwards known as the Steward's Hall. 
And here, on the night of September 17, 18 18, was born 
a son, who in due time was named for his two grandfathers,. 
Moses Drury Hoge. His father, writing the next day to 
the Rev. John Blair Hoge, thus announces the event : 

I beg leave to tell you that your nephew is pronounced by 
his grandfather to be a fine fellow. My dear Elizabeth is a 
mother, and I have charge of a precious young immortal 
committed to me. "Here," said she, "is another sinful 
creature for you to pray for." Let me turn the address to 
you. . . . You may readily suppose that I am somewhat 
elated. Perhaps I am ; but I pity those who on such an 
occasion indulge in all the customary follies. I pity those 
who receive not such a gift as from heaven, and who hear 
not the divine command, Take this child and train it for 
heaven. 

It is interesting to know that old Dr. Hoge saw this 
child ; that he who preached the sermon at the organization 
of the Synod of Virginia laid his hands on him who preached 
at its centennial meeting. This is a truly apostolic succes- 
sion. 

By Dr. Hoge, doubtless, the child was baptized. After 
the death of his father, in July, 1820, Mr. Hoge resigned his 
connection with the college, and the following fall, through 
the influence of his brother James, then established for some 
years at Columbus, removed to Ohio. Here he became pas- 
tor of the church at Hillsborough, where he resided, and of 
Rocky Spring, in Highland county. Here were born his 
two daughters, Anne Lacy, January 22, 1821, and Elizabeth 
Poage in June, 1823; the former named for his wife's 
mother, the latter for his own. His labors here were de- 
voted and successful. But his health was not equal to the 
arduous toil involved. With a weak constitution inherited 



26 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



from his mother, he labored especially under the difficulty of 
a weak voice. His brother James said of his preaching: 
"As a pulpit orator, he lacked only voice and physical 
strength to have ranked with the first preachers of his age. 
His style was pure, simple and energetic, expressing with 
great exactness the nicest shades of thought. And his sub- 
ject matter was always evangelical truth, presented in such 
a way as to instruct, and at the same time deeply affect his 
hearers. . . . His personal appearance as a public 
speaker was in his favor. His voice, though weak, was 
pleasant. In stature he was rather below the medium, 
though hardly so much as to be noticed." On account of in- 
creasing infirmity from a complication of disorders, he was 
constrained, in October, 1823, to give up the active ministry 
and accept the professorship of Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy in the University of Ohio, at Athens, though he 
preached much of the time in the Athens church. 

For this chair he had peculiar aptitude, and he threw him- 
self into its improvement w T ith his customary enthusiasm. 
In the spring of 1825 he made a journey to the east, partly 
to attend the General Assembly in Philadelphia, partly to 
purchase apparatus for his department and visit the New 
England colleges, to learn the most approved methods. It 
was a great journey. April 23d, he had reached Marietta on 
horseback, and was waiting for a rise in the river ; April 30th, 
he had reached Pittsburg in a gig, the expected rise not hav- 
ing developed; two days' staging covered the one hundred 
and thirty-two miles to Erie, where he failed to find a 
steamboat, and so went by stage two days more to Niag- 
ara; twenty-four hours by canal and stage to Albany; by 
steamboat to New York; and again by steamboat to New 
Haven. 

He was greatly delighted with New Haven; with the 
handsome streets, the schools and colleges, the churches and 
the elms. On Sunday he preached in the afternoon to "the 
loveliest collection of sinners" he had ever seen. Professor 



Birth and Boyhood. 



27 



Silliman received him most cordially and furthered his 
mission ; as did others. 

Finally, on May 20th, he reached Philadelphia, where he 
received his first letters from home, and is "much pleased 
with Drury's writing;" who will be heard from at more than 
one General Assembly. 

At the Assembly he met his brothers, James and John, the 
latter for the last time on earth, as he died within a year. 
Within another year he joined him in the general assembly 
above. 

After Mr. Hoge's return from this journey his second son 
was born, August 14, 1825, and named William James, for 
his uncles, William Lacy and James Hoge. This completed 
the family circle; with "Cousin Martha," who lived with 
them; Elisha Ballantine, a student whom he had received 
into his family and virtually adopted; and Prudence and 
Jeffrey, the servants. They were living now in a convenient 
two-story brick house, which he had built himself, with large 
porches above and below, enclosed with shutters. Though 
but a short walk from the university, which was in full view, 
he often had to have his classes at his house. But although 
a great sufferer at times, he was genial in company ; always 
cheerful, and sometimes playful in his family. He was 
versed in the best literature, and fond of poetry, in which he 
had some skill himself. Mrs. Hoge was gifted in song, and 
had rare conversational powers, while her beautiful house- 
keeping and gracious hospitality added to the attractiveness 
of their home. They had not the pictures and ornaments 
that now add so much to the charm of our homes, but neither 
did their neighbors, and they did not miss them; but the 
charm of Christian courtesy and Christian love was there; 
which is far better. 

But over this happy home the shadow of death had to 
come; and it came at that season when earthly joys are 
brightened by the memory of angels' songs, when family life 
is blessed by the memory of a holy childhood, when we give 



28 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



gifts to one another in memory of God's unspeakable gift to 
us. His son may tell the story : 1 

His health had 'been feeble for several years; he was. 
enfeebled and crippled partially by some disease resem- 
bling rheumatism, and frequently walked with an usteady, 
limping gait. One day, as he sat in the Philosophical room 
in the college, he was writing a note on a book resting on 
his knee, when he was suddenly seized with a violent cramp 
in the leg. Such was the force of the contraction that the 
thigh bone was broken! Had the bone been sound, this 
could scarcely have been possible. After he fell, some of 
the students in the adjacent room heard his groans, and the 
door of the Philosophical room being fastened with a 
spring lock, they burst it open, and at his request made a 
litter, and carried him to his residence. The broken limb 
was set by a skillful surgeon, but never united. He lin- 
gered about a fortnight, and on Christmas Eve of the year 
1826, finding that he was near his end, he summoned his 
family to his bedside to receive his dying benediction. I 
well remember the night. It was one of the coldest I ever 
felt. The snow lay deep on the frozen ground. The wind 
blew furiously. Attending friends hovered around the 
fire ; but my father, fevered with inward heat, ordered the 
window nearest him to be thrown open. The fierce wind 
sometimes blew the dry snow into the room (it was on 
the lower floor) and upon his bed. But while everything 
was tempestuous without, all was peaceful within that 
chamber where the good man met his fate. One by one, 
he addressed the members of his family; first his wife, 
whom he had ever tenderly loved and cherished, and to 
whom he had never spoken a hasty word ; earnestly did he- 
commend her to the watch and care of a covenant-keeping 
God. And then he gave his blessing to his children, as 
they successively approached him ; and finally the servants 
were called in, and, addressing them by name, he urged 
them to prepare for death and judgment. When these 
admonitions and partings were ended, he folded his hands 
upon his breast, closed his eyes, and continued evidently 
engaged in prayer until the hour of his release and trans^ 
lation came. 



1 S Prague's Annals, Vol. IV. 



Birth and Boyhood. 29 

So deeply frozen was the ground that it was tedious 
work to dig his grave. The day of the funeral was one of 
intense cold, but all the college students joined in the pro- 
cession, walking with the faculty, next the bier, as if chief 
mourners, while the great majority of the citizens of the 
town, notwithstanding the severity of the weather, fol- 
lowed in the sad march to the grave, lamenting with bitter 
tears a loss that seemed to them irreparable. 



"Our eldest brother," wrote his sister, long afterwards, 
""was the only one of us old enough to appreciate our loss. 
He was sensible and thoughtful beyond his years, and he 
tried to comfort our poor mother, when one day he found 
her in tears, with a verse from the Bible which he had 
learned, 'Mamma, don't you remember the Bible says, "He 
shall deliver thee in six troubles, and in seven shall no evil 
touch thee " ? ' " Blessed little comforter ; these are the first 
words recorded of lips that were to pour forth such abundant 
consolations. 

There was no radical or immediate change in the outward 
fortunes of the family from their father's death. Besides 
the house they lived in, their father left some other means, 
and their mother, who was an admirable manager, by taking 
a few boarders from among the college students, was able 
to provide for them in comfort. "She was a good mother," 
says her oldest daughter, "watchful, firm and tender, and if 
her children were not what they ought to have been, it was 
through no lack of good counsel and discipline. I think we 
were on the whole obedient and well-mannered, comparing 
my recollection of what was our average conduct with what 
I see of the present generation of children. Our eldest 
brother alternately entertained and tormented us ; he was a 
great tease, and was seldom satisfied until he had brought 
us to tears. Then he was sorry, and would exert himself to 
put us in a good humor. He was, in our opinion, a wonder- 
ful story-teller. Night after night, as we lay upon our beds, 
the sisters in one room and the brothers in an adjoining 



30 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



room, he would regale us with marvellous tales long after we 
ought to have been asleep. He was a great reader, and had 
an excellent memory, and some of the tales with which he 
charmed us were drawn, as I learned afterwards, from 
Shakespeare. But he often drew entirely upon his imagina- 
tion, and was no less interesting then. He was not perfect, 
but he was very winning in manners, very intelligent, and 
always a successful student." 

There are many references in early letters to Moses' con- 
stant reading, and he used often to say that he did not be- 
lieve any one was ever so happy as he used to be sitting up in 
the cupola of the university in the summer, when the students 
were all away, reading Maria Edgeworth, and feeling as if 
he were the monarch of the globe. But he would not often 
talk about his boyhood. When asked about it he would say 
that there was so little in it in which he took pleasure that 
the subject was painful to him. This was not because of 
outward conditions. In these he was happy and content. 
But the faults of his childhood, that most people would have 
thought of with complacency or amusement, were with him 
subjects of acutest pain, and he often spoke with astonish- 
ment of persons repeating with relish stories of youthful in- 
discretion. Especially when his life was devoted to com- 
forting others in their sorrows did he regret that he had 
ever given any one needless pain by his boyish propensity to 
tease. After his brother's death he related to his widow 
with almost an agony of remorse how he had once been 
tempted to tease him by throwing away his parting gift of 
a little stone that was one of his boyish treasures ; yet he had 
not done so, but had kept it, and kept it still. 

Of his boyish faults this was the only one that did not 
lean to virtue's side, or at least give evidence of that master- 
ful strength of character that enabled him to overcome all 
obstacles in the pursuit of noble ends. 

Once at the house of their physician, who lived just oppo- 
site, he saw a book that interested him, and asked the doctor 



Birth and Boyhood. 



3i 



to lend it to him. "Yes," he replied, "if you will take good 
care of it and return it when you are done with it." He 
quietly laid it down and walked out of the room without a 
word. When his sister asked him afterwards why he had 
done so, he said, "He might have known that I would take 
care of it and return it ; I always do." After the family had 
been broken up in Athens, he paid them a visit at Granville, 
where they were living for the education of the girls. The 
town had all the old New England customs. During the 
sermon on Sunday, Moses happened to pick up a little book 
that was lying in the pew and began to finger its pages 
absently, when he was startled by a tap from the long staff 
of the beadle. He stalked majestically from the house, and 
was only pacified when the deacons called and apologized for 
the over-zealous beadle, and assured him that they were 
satisfied that a son of Mrs. Hoge could never demean him- 
self irreverently in the house of God. 

The immediate cause of the breaking up of the home in 
Athens was a trouble in the college that led to the departure 
of most of the students, and deprived Mrs. Hoge of the in- 
come from her boarders. Some of those who had lived in 
her house entered very closely into the life of the family. 
Elisha Ballantine continued to live with them after the 
death of Mr. Hoge, rendering services in compensation for 
his board, as did his brother Henry, who had now joined 
him. The example of these studious boys and their exer- 
tions to acquire an education must have had a stimulating 
effect on Mrs. Hoge's own sons. And when Elisha went to 
study in Germany, and Henry caught the missionary enthu- 
siasm at Andover, and consecrated his young life to the 
cause, the letters of Henry, filled with missionary zeal, and 
of Elisha, telling of the learned lectures of Gesenius and Ne- 
ander, and the saintly conversation and fatherly instruction 
of Tholuck, must have exerted a broadening and uplifting 
influence upon their lives. Another one of their household 
was to return and find a closer tie — William H. Marquess, 



32 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



who had been devoted to Mrs. Hoge as to a mother, and 
who came back to claim Anne Lacy as a wife. 

Around this home clustered such associations that its 
breaking up was a sad trial ; and when is not the breaking up 
of a home sad? When William had returned to Athens to 
college, his sister Elizabeth writes : "I wish we could all get 
together in the old house and run over all the rooms, up 
cellar and down cellar, and revisit 'every loved spot that our 
infancy knew.' Neither would we forget the 'moss-covered 
bucket' that still hangs (I hope) in the well. I wonder if 
those grinning figures still enliven Jeffrey's closet door. 
Moses left many specimens of his skill in red pencil marks 
on one of the doors. I think one of the characters he chose 
to adorn it was Andrew Jackson." And when William be- 
came a professor in the university and occupied that very 
house, Mrs. Marquess writes : "With almost every room from 
attic to cellar I can associate some scene of childish joy or 
sorrow. The sitting-room, hallowed by the memory of our 
father's death; the dining-room, where we generally car- 
ried on our evening plays, and where I held my first party on 
my ninth birthday ; the study, where we were all so fright- 
ened once, when Moses pretended to be dead, and lay mo- 
tionless amid our cries and shakings until we had summoned 
mamma and several visitors who soon brought him to life." 

Such were the scenes of childhood upon which Moses is 
now about to turn his back. While his mother and the 
younger children are to go to Columbus, it has been arranged 
that he shall go to his Uncle Drury Lacy's in Newbern, 
N. C, who had proposed to take him and prepare him 
for Hampden-Sidney College. It was in 1834, when he 
was fifteen years of age, and small for his age, that he set 
off with a number of the Southern students, "riding a large 
horse." The family watched him as long as they could see 
him ; the second great break in the family circle. 

For young Moses Hoge it was more than a break ; it was 
an epoch. It was putting away childish things and taking 



Birth and Boyhood. 



33 



on the independence and self-reliance of manhood. We can- 
not trace the route followed, except that he seems to have 
gone southward through Kentucky into Tennessee, and 
crossed the mountains into North Carolina, rather than the 
short, but more tangled, route through Western Virginia. 
For a time he had companions, but one by one they parted 
for their several ways, and he was left alone. He had 
reached the swamps of Eastern Carolina when he was seized 
with a burning fever. The road was a mere clearing through 
the dense forest of the swamp, drained by a ditch on each 
side. He could not have been more alone in the primeval 
world. But at last he came to a cabin, where the good 
woman gave him a place to lie down, and administered some 
hot herb tea. While he lay there the rain began to patter 
upon the shed roof, and then to descend in torrents. His 
parched skin seemed to thirst for it, and with his accustomed 
resolution he called for his horse. The woman told him it 
would be certain death to go out in the rain with such a 
fever, but he persisted and started on his journey, galloping 
through the rain that beat coolingly in his face, and that 
thoroughly soaked his clothing. Before he reached Kinston 
he fell in with a man who took him to a good boarding house 
and summoned a physician, and himself nursed him night 
and day until he was well enough to travel. This faculty of 
winning friends, who rendered him devoted service in un- 
expected circumstances, was conspicuous during his whole 
life. In this case his friend proved to be a professional gam- 
bler, who sometimes came to Newbern to ply his trade, and 
always manifested his attachment for him. We know no- 
thing of his after life, but one can only hope that He who said, 
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me," found a place for him 
at last among those to whom He says, "Come, ye blessed." 

Newbern was the old colonial capital of North Carolina, 
and here the young Virginian, who had always felt like some- 
thing of an exile in Ohio, found a refined society most con- 



34 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



genial to his tastes. He ever afterwards cherished a warm 
love for the old town. The quaint colonial houses, with their 
gardens of roses ; the deeply ditched streets, shaded by long 
avenues of evergreen oak ; the remains of Governor Tryon's 
palace, the building of which did so much to foment the 
discontent of the colony; the cemetery, with its walls of 
shell-rock and the fast-fading inscriptions that even then 
seemed old ; more than all, the broad, shining river, with its 
vast sweep towards the sea — all this was a fadeless picture 
in his memory. Half a century afterwards he repeated with 
appreciation the pleasing lines of a youthful friend : 

" Regretful waves, well may ye weep and sigh 
For this sweet Eden, as ye pass it by ; 
For wander where ye may, ye ne'er will kiss 
A shore so bright, so beautiful as this." 

Nor was he indifferent — as what boy could be ? — to the crea- 
ture comforts that climate and soil and sea and river con- 
spired to lavish so abundantly on a people who knew how to 
appreciate them, and to use them with a hospitality as lavish 
as Nature's own. Writing in sportive mood to his sisters of 
a visit that he made with his Uncle Drury 1 five years after- 
wards, to attend a meeting of Orange Presbytery, he says, 
"I did not enjoy my visit there, did I ? Oh ! by no means, not 
in the least, as Mr. Richard Swiveller would say. Such kind 
greetings, such pretty girls, such fat oysters, such charming 
rock, such ronde de boeuf and cotelettes de mouton panee — 
to say nothing, oh! nothing at all, of strawberries and 
oranges. Uncle Drury and I had accepted invitations to 
dine and sup for three days to come when we left the town." 

Here, too, he first acquired his love for the sea. When 
most of the carrying trade of the world was done in sailing 
vessels, there was much more commerce from the smaller 
ports than now, and staunch schooners ran in and out of the 
Neuse, not only to American ports near and far, but to the 

1 Then removed to Raleigh. 



Birth and Boyhood. 



35 



West Indies and more distant lands. Of course no vessel 
came in that he did not knoAV it. To talk to the captains 
about their voyages and adventures and the lands they had 
seen was his delight. One captain promised to take him on 
his next voyage, but he was prevented from going. The 
vessel was lost with all on board. Nothing daunted he seized 
the next chance and sailed to New York, when he was leav- 
ing Newbern (May, 1836), and went thence through Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburg to visit his mother in Ohio. A letter 
written to his mother on shipboard is full of the rapture of 
the sea. In his uncle's hall there hung a large map of 
the world. He used to stand before it by the hour, finding 
the location of all the places of which he heard and read, 
studying the routes to reach them, and wondering which of 
them he would be able to visit in years to come. 

The Rev. Thomas Watson, of Dardenne, Mo., a friend of 
his Newbern days, and the author of the lines just quoted, 
in a letter written when they were both dignified ministers, 
gives us a glimpse of these days : 

Mrs. Greenleaf surprised me by telling me that you 
loved novelty and change. It did not appear to be so with 
you when you were a boy. You appeared to be well 
enough satisfied with that dear lazy old Cuddyhunk, 1 and 
were always a cheerful companion of such a prosy fellow 
as I, with whom your only amusements were a walk up 
the shore, a row on the river, and candy boiling over a 
dross 2 fire. True, I might have seen the first budding of 
the roving temper of your mind in that astounding and 
adventurous journey on which you led me — me, a genuine, 
quiet Cuddyhunkian who had never crept but a mile or so 
from home to gather chinquepins and get sweet gum and 

1 Cuddyhunk was a name given in derision to a group of men in 
Newbern who opposed all progress. "Cuddy" is the tiny cabin in the 
forepart of a sailing vessel, and "hunk" — or more properly "hunks" — 
signifies a miser. The nickname was subsequently applied to the town. 
Cf. the name "Hunkers" applied to the ultra-conservatives in New York 
in 1845. 

2 The refuse of a turpentine still, which makes a very hot fire. 



36 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



honeysuckle for the girls — that journey to the very eastern 
bounds of Carolina, to the very verge of the trackless 
ocean, with the attending exploring expedition up the sav- 
age banks of South River. But then, when you came back 
to Newbern, you seemed to relapse naturally into its native 
inertia, and to resume with pleasure your familiar walks 
on the long-discovered shore. 

A singular association for a boy of sixteen was his friend- 
ship with the excellent, but eccentric, elder of threescore and 
ten, Dr. Elias Hawes, who several times mentions him in his 
journal : 

Friday, February, 20, 1835. Visited Betsey Always, sick 
at the Poor House. Moses Drury Hoge, who was with me, 
and carried my gun, shot a sparrow. 

Shortly afterwards: 

Mr. M. D. Hoge called at the usual hour, and we went on 
with our customary study of the Larger Catechism to- 
gether. We have arrived at the one hundred and ninety- 
first question. 

And again : 

Saturday, April 4, 1835. Male prayer-meeting at Brother 
Oliver Dewey's. Mr. Lacy expressed anxiety for his 
nephew, Moses Drury Hoge, and entreated us to pray for 
him. 

While going to school in Newbern he would not allow his 
uncle to pay his tuition, but earned it himself by teaching the 
primary classes. This principle he followed throughout his 
college and seminary course, working his way through both, 
although his Uncle Drury and his Uncle James both ofTered 
to advance him the money. 

Of great benefit to him in Newbern was his uncle's well- 
selected library. Dr. Lacy was a man of fine literary 
taste, and not only had the best authors on his shelves, but 
was able to guide his reading into the best channels. Bos- 



Birth and Boyhood. 



37 



well's Life of Johnson is a specimen of the style of books he 
then read, and read to such purpose that he could repeat long 
passages from them sixty years after. 

But the best of all the influences that entered into his life 
in Newbern was his association with his Uncle Drury him- 
self. His sweetness and light were just what the proud, 
sensitive, high-strung young soul needed, to show him the 
beauty of holiness and the joy of a life spent in making 
others happy. On seeing him again after several years, 
Moses wrote his mother: "He is without doubt the best 
specimen of a man I every saw; frank, generous, sincere, 
affectionate ; but his finest quality is his perfect freedom 
from dissimulation or artifice of any sort. He is entirely 
transparent. He reminds me of some deep, pure river, 
through whose clear depths one may look and see pearls and 
gems sparkling." 

In 1 89 1 the sometime Newbern boy revisited the old town, 
full of years and honors, and his Sunday-school teacher, Mr. 
Charles H. Slover, a short while before his death, had the 
happiness of entertaining him in his home and the proud 
privilege of hearing him preach. 

Who knows the value of a boy ? A Scotch session one day 
sent a delegation to their minister to complain of the un- 
fruitfulness of his ministry: only one addition to the com- 
munion that year, and he "only a boy." The good man 
received it meekly, and could only say that he "had great 
hopes o' Robert." That day the boy came to the minister to 
unfold his purpose of preaching the gospel to the heathen. 
It was Robert Moffat. 



CHAPTER III. 



Student Days. 

" So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 
So near is God to man, 
When duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' 
The youth replies, 'I can.' " — Emerson. 

THE love of Dr. Hoge for his alma mater was one 
of the most loyal loves of his life. One of his favorite 
themes was the great service that the smaller colleges in 
general, and Hampden-Sidney in particular, had done for 
church and country, and the poor return that had been made 
them in gifts and endowments. He was once driving with a 
lady of wealth in Baltimore, when she asked him how she 
could give a large sum of money so as to do the most good. 
He promptly replied, "Endow Hampden-Sidney College." 
She appeared surprised, but when he poured forth a torrent 
of eloquent facts, showing its great services to the country 
with its small equipment, she was deeply impressed, and 
promised to give it her serious attention on her return 
from an intended visit abroad. When she returned, it 
was in her coffin, which he was summoned to commit to 
the earth. 

Elected early in life one of the Board of Trustees, there 
was no duty to which he was more faithful, and nowhere, 
save in his own pulpit, was he so completely king as on its 
commencement platform. Many years ago the crowd had 
become disorderly, and the president was vainly trying to 
address the graduating class amid the buzz of conversation 
and laughter. Appeals and reprimands were alike vain, and 
at last he turned to Dr. Hoge. He stepped to the front 
of the platform ; there was a lull. He began, "I am ashamed 
that I was born in Prince Edward county" ; a deadly hush. 



Student Days. 



39 



"These exercises will be completed in perfect quiet, and if 
another person speaks, I will adjourn them to the board 
room." They were finished without further interruption, 
and at the close Dr. Hoge said, "I am proud that I was 
born in Prince Edward county," and sent everybody away 
happy with one of his inimitable speeches. Some of his 
highest flights of oratory were on this platform, but he will 
perhaps be best remembered there by the unpremeditated 
speeches in which he played with the audience, as it were, 
giving free vein to humor, fancy, reminiscence, pathos ; now 
diving down into the deep things of life, now soaring aloft 
on the highest themes, but always leaving in the mind and 
heart the radiant gleam of the beauty of holiness and the in- 
spiration of high and noble living. The last summer of 
his life, though sick and feeble, he could not be kept from 
the meeting of the board, and delivered to the senior class 
an "inimitably beautiful, tender and cultured address of 
twenty minutes," which "would have made the reputation of 
any ordinary man." 

Hampden-Sidney College was born in the heart of the 
Revolution, and named for the two English patriot-martyrs, 
John Hampden and Algernon Sidney. It was inaugurated 
by Hanover Presbytery, which with feeble resources con- 
ceived and executed the daring project of founding two in- 
stitutions of learning, one east and the other west of the 
mountains. Both live to-day ; one as Washington and Lee 
University, the other as Hampden-Sidney College. The 
founder and first president of the latter was Samuel Stan- 
hope Smith; among its incorporators were Patrick Henry 
and James Madison. Its first president was followed by a 
line of illustrious successors — John Blair Smith, Drury 
Lacy, Archibald Alexander, Moses Hoge and Jonathan P. 
Cushing. President Cushing was the first layman to hold 
the office. A native of New Hampshire and a graduate of 
Dartmouth College, he had been secured by Dr. Hoge 
for the chair of Natural Science, and upon the death of 



4 o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Dr. Hoge was marked, by his abilities and his devotion 
to the institution, as the fittest man for his successor. Giv- 
ing to the college his entire time and energies — which 
his predecessors, with their excessive ministerial duties, 
had not been able to do — he raised it to a plane of pros- 
perity and usefulness far in advance of its previous attain- 
ments. 

Hither came Moses Drury Hoge in the fall of 1836, hav- 
ing recently passed his eighteenth birthday. To him the 
place had peculiar associations. In the line of its presidents 
were both his grandfathers. Here his father had graduated 
and afterwards been a professor. Nearby was the home of 
his mother's girlhood, and here was the place of his birth. 
He had recently visited his mother in Granville, Ohio, and 
was doubtless told many tales of the past, and freighted with 
messages for the living. Here was the home of her first cou- 
sin and friend, Mrs. John Holt Rice, with whom he boarded ; 
not far away was the home of her brother, Dr. Horace Lacy ; 
in the adjoining county of Halifax was that of his father's 
brother, Dr. Thomas Hoge. In Powhatan was Montrose, the 
home of his mother's mother, Ann Smith; still the home of 
his kindred. All of these were to be homes or visiting places 
for him. Though practically seeing the place for the first 
time, he could have felt no stranger here. He knew that 
many eyes were upon him, expecting something of him. 
Even the family servants, full of love and loyalty, had a 
welcome for him as one who belonged to them, and of whom 
they expected great things. After emancipation, one of 
them, who had no claim upon him except that he had be- 
longed to the family, came to Richmond with the reassuring 
information that he was not going to "desert" him, and 
took up his abode with him. Being sent once to meet Dr. 
James H. Brookes at the railroad station, he entertained 
him as he drove him to the house. "Well, Marse Jeems, I 
hear you's become a gret man out in de Wes'." Dr. 
Brookes made some modest reply, of which he took no no- 



Student Days. 



4i 



tice. "I tell you what it is, Marse Jeems, one thing I've 
notis 'bout our family; wharever we go we always distin- 
guishes ourselves." 

President Cushing had died in 1832, and had been suc- 
ceeded by William Maxwell, a brilliant lawyer who had at- 
tained the highest success at the bar, a scholar deeply versed 
in classic and English literature, an orator of national repu- 
tation, astonishing the distinguished audience of the Phi 
Beta Kappa Society at Yale by an oration of masterly power 
and perfect finish, of which not a line had been committed 
to writing ; a gentleman of that polish and grace of manner 
that comes from birth and wealth and culture; a devoted 
member and ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church ; a man 
whose large fortune had been used freely in benevolent and 
religious enterprises. By a sudden reverse of fortune he 
had lost his means, and not caring to contend at the bar with 
the men of a younger generation, he accepted the presi- 
dency of the college as an honorable means of livelihood 
and a noble sphere of usefulness. We do not fail to call 
to mind more recent analogies. He was just the man to 
stimulate the enthusiasm of young men and to awaken 
high ideals. 

It was the custom in those days for metaphysics and kin- 
dred branches to be taught by the president; the other 
departments were Natural Science, Mathematics, and the 
Languages. 

The chair of Natural Science was filled at this time by the 
afterwards celebrated Dr. John W. Draper, and in the 
college laboratory are still shown the cameras with which 
he took the first daguerreotypes from living subjects. Fran- 
cis H. Smith was professor of Mathematics, having been 
instructor in the same department at West Point, where he 
graduated. He left Hampden-Sidney to become the first 
superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, where his 
distinguished service embraced over half a century. The 
professor of Languages was Robert C. Branch, strict and 



42 Moses Drury Hoge. 

thorough as an instructor, sensitive to all the charms and 
refinements of classic literature, and a man of singularly" 
lovely character. 1 

1 An advertisement in the Watchman of the South of October, 1840, 
gives a fuller view of the course of study as it was the year after Moses 
Hoge's graduation: 

HP HE Winter Session of this institution will commence on the 
-L 1st day of November next, and terminate on the 4th Wed- 
nesday of April following. 

The faculty of the College, and other teachers, with their 
several departments of instruction, are as follows : 

William Maxwell, President, Professor of Moral Philosophy, 
&c, &c. 

Robert G. Branch, Professor of Ancient Languages. 
Benjamin S. Ewell, Professor of Mathematics. 
Daniel P. Gardiner, Professor of Natural Philosophy and 
Chemistry. 

Moses D. Hoge, Tutor, Teacher of the Preparatory Depart- 
ment. 

Samuel W. Watkins, Teacher of Modern Languages. 

The Classical course of instruction occupies four years," in- 
each of which there are two sessions. 

The. studies of the Freshman and Sophomore years are the 
Latin and Greek languages, with the Classical Literature con- 
nected with them; Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry in all its 
branches. 

Those of the Junior year are the higher Classics and Mathe- 
matics, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry, (including notices 
of various subjects connected with it,) Astronomy, Geology, 
and Botany. 

And those of the Senior year are Mental Philosophy, Moral 
Philosophy, (including the Evidences of Christianity,) Civil 
Polity, Political Economy, the Law of Nations, Logic, Rhetoric, 
and Belle-Lettres. 

Besides this Classical course, there is also an English course, 
occupying three years, and embracing all the same studies with 
the exception of the Ancient Languages. 

Students who do not wish to engage in either of these regular 
courses, if over 18 years of age, and duly authorized by their 
parents and guardians, may pursue the studies of two or more 
classes, or any of them, at the same time; but only and always in 
such orderly manner as the Faculty may direct, and subject to all 
the general laws and regulations of the College in other respects. 

The discipline of the College is intended to be liberal, but at 
the same time sufficiently strict ; as gentle and paternal as pos- 
sible, but always vigilant and effective. 

Monthly reports of the general deportment, diligence, and 
proficiency of the students, (with notices of particular delin- 
quencies,) are regularly forwarded to their parents and guar- 
dians, at the end of every month. 

The expenses of the session are — Board, $60; Tuition, $30;. 
Room Rent, $6; Servant's hire, $1.75. 

MOSES D. HOGE, 
Clerk of the Faculty. 



Student Days. 



43 



These men became not only the instructors, but — except 
Dr. Draper, whose removal to New York led him into 
different paths — the life-long friends of the young student. 
Mr. Maxwell spent the last years of his life in Richmond,, 
engaged in eminent literary work for his profession, and 
his widow became a member of Dr. Hoge's church until her 
death, which was not long before his own. Professor Branch 
and Mr. Hoge married sisters, and were devoted as brothers. 
When he first went abroad, his letters from Rome expressed 
his longing for "Robert Branch" to be w T ith him and see 
what he saw. With General Smith he frequently had cor- 
respondence, and they always maintained for each other the 
highest regard. 

Moses Hoge was well prepared to make the most of his 
advantages. In general reading and literary culture he was, 
at matriculation, far in advance of the average college grad- 
uate; and in the halls of the Philanthropic Society, of 
which he became a member, he cultivated assiduously his 
gifts of speech. He must have been well advanced in the 
classics, for at that time his brother, seven years younger, 
whom he was always upbraiding for devoting himself to 
pulleys and siphons and machinery, to the neglect of the 
classics, writes him that he was reading "the sixth book of 
Virgil and had come to 'the verb' in Greek." Although he 
had no time in after life to keep up his classical studies, the 
familiarity with classic literature which he always showed, 
and his readiness in classic quotation, indicated a high de- 
gree of attainment in his college days. Of course language 
was studied very differently then from now. It was less 
philological and more literary. As some one put it, "Then 
men learned the language in order to read the literature; 
now they read the literature in order to learn the lan- 
guage." The modern method certainly makes more exact 
scholars of the few, but it may be questioned whether 
the older method did not impart a more elegant culture to 
the many. 



44 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



For natural science and mathematics he had no special in- 
clination. He could learn them, as he could master anything 
to which he applied his mind, and he had a keen apprecia- 
tion of truth and beauty in any form. But he could never 
quite appreciate the feelings of a fellow student whose 
insight into a geometrical demonstration was always an- 
nounced to the whole college by a resounding guffaw. 

Something of his habits of study and mode of life we may 
see by some extracts from a letter to his younger brother, 
written during the second year of his college course (Feb- 
ruary 3, 1837) : 

Study as much as you please in mechanics — philosophy 
won't hurt you ; but, unless you expect to be an engineer or 
a wheelwright, you must attend to the languages and com- 
position. There is a book in two volumes, called Pursuit of 
Knowledge under Difficulties, published in the Library of 
Entertaining Knowledge, which contains things you would 
like to read. It is full of "steam, levers, astronomy," etc. 
If you can borrow it, read the account of Ferguson, who 
was an ignorant shepherd boy, and used to lie on his back 
at night and mark the position of the stars with a thread 
and beads, and who cut out with a common penknife all the 
wheels, and actually constructed a watch from a wooden 
block. Read the account of Peter the Great of Russia; 
and of Dr. Allen Murray, and see what he did when a lit- 
tle boy at school. I have lost so much time myself that I 
know how to advise others from experience. I am now 
trying to make up for lost time by hard study, and saving 
all I can. I rise regularly at five in the morning, light my 
fire and candle and study hard until we breakfast. I study 
or recite all day until two in the afternoon, when I cut 
wood or walk for an hour or so. I go to bed at ten o'clock, 
and sleep seven hours. At the first of the session I slept 
nine or ten hours, but happening to read that the difference 
between rising at five and at seven in forty years amounted 
to ten years, 1 I turned over a new leaf. 

1 Of course, this must have been calculated on the basis of working 
hours. 



Student Days. 



45 



There is another thing which, although I mention it last, 
ought to come first, and is the most important of all. Take 
your slate and, if you can, calculate the length of time com- 
pared with eternity. 

The letter concludes with an exhortation, introduced by 
the last quoted sentence, to attend to the things of the soul. 
It is significant because at this time he had not himself made 
a public profession of religion. That he was not indifferent 
to the subject, the letter itself shows; but for the reasons 
why he had not made such a profession we must turn to a 
letter addressed to his mother the following fall : 

I cannot precisely analyze the feeling or explain the cause 
of my unwillingness, or rather shrinking from communi- 
cating my feelings on several subjects. I suppose it is 
an unfavorable symptom that I am not communicative on 
the subject of religion, since out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh. I believe I am particularly 
averse to doing so in letters. I remember thinking when I 
was quite small that the commonplace phrases in the letters 
you used to receive from pious friends had a hypocritical 
air, and were put in only to fill up the sheet when news and 
originality had run out ; and I have seen some letters at 
Mrs. Rice's which recalled my old feelings. To my mother 
I know I should have no hesitation in opening my mind, 
especially on this subject. If I have such anxieties for my 
brother and sisters, what must be the feelings of a parent? 
I cannot say that I am a Christian. I can only say that upon 
a close examination I always find many things that dis- 
quiet and depress me; yet I am never left without some 
hope that I have experienced a change of heart. At those 
times when I feel most comfort, I have constant alterna- 
tions of doubts and hesitation, and dread the possibility of 
making a favorable decision and lapsing into security, 
while I may be deceived as to the grounds on which that 
imaginary safety is based. Since I have been here, I have 
had clearer views of the enormity of sin, not only in the 
abstract, but my own. Although remorse and deep peni- 
tence in themselves cannot be called graces, yet I think they 
are to be desired and prayed for, because, unless we feel 



4 6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



our guilt, and the certainty of those miseries which are the 
wages of sin, how can we desire, or even perceive the ne- 
cessity of, a Saviour? The stronger the sense of our 
undone and hopeless condition, the more is the value and 
suitability of a refuge felt. I have felt most bitterly the 
guilt of disobeying the direct command of our Saviour, 
"Do this in remembrance of me," and have had several 
severe struggles with regard to my duty, as one sacra- 
mental occasion after another has rolled around. Yet I be- 
lieve under existing circumstances I have done right. It 
was the practice of the primitive churches to require years 
of trial before they admitted any one to church member- 
ship, and as it is the most solemn event in our existence 
(except death) I think too much care and deliberation can- 
not be used. Until the time come when I think it my duty 
to do so [come to the communion], I hope to be able to 
exhibit a Christian walk and character, and show my 
principles by my fruits, rather than by professions. I feel 
that a new tie exists between Sister Lacy 1 and myself. I 
can hardly hope that as a family we can all be ever united 
here, but if we can be a family in heaven, this temporary 
division is not worth a thought. Elizabeth and William 
no doubt were duly affected by the step which their sister 
took before their eyes. Elizabeth has always, I believe, 
been under religious impressions. William is naturally 
thoughtful, and I doubt not often reflects on the "chief 
end" of his creation, and the purpose for which he was 
allowed to live in this world. I hope he will not think he is 
too young to attend to this matter, unless he thinks he is 
too young to die. 

Thoughtful, serious young man: the Spirit of God is 
working deeply in that heart. Perhaps he needed some one 
just then to point him out of himself to Christ, that he might 
find the grounds of his hope less in what he felt and more in 
what Christ had done ; but of this much we may be sure, the 
step when taken will be for life and eternity. No stony- 
ground hearer this. The soil is deep and the work will be 
thorough : and the harvest ? Shall we say a hundred- fold ? 

1 Of whose reception into the communion of the church his mother 
had just written him. 



Student Days. 



47 



The terms of the parable are limited by natural possibilities. 
There are no such limitations in the spiritual world, and we 
shall see what we shall see. 

This letter was written from Raleigh, N. C, on his way 
to Granville county, where he was to teach a school at "Red 
Hill," the home of Mr. Andrew Read, of whose kindness and 
courtesy he makes appreciative mention. He had entered the 
junior class at college, and had only taken one year of the 
course, when he felt the need of a more thorough preparation 
in preparatory studies, and felt that the best way to attain it 
was by teaching. Dr. Draper and others of the Faculty tried 
to dissuade him, and hinted that he would take the first 
honor if he continued straight through ; but he knew what 
he needed, and had the manhood to form his resolution and 
act upon it. "I feel better qualified," he wrote his mother, "to 
teach Greek, Latin, astronomy, etc., than the elementary 
branches of the common school. Now, when is all this to be 
learned? The advanced studies of the senior year could 
engross all my time, and how would it look for a graduate 
to go to studying English grammar and arithmetic?" 

His situation he described as a pleasant one; the family 
were "polite and respectful," and "Red Hill Seminary and its 
venerable head have a very respectable neighborhood repu- 
tation." He taught six hours a day "in a log school-house 
sixteen feet square ;" "the children, though not smart, study 
well, and have made considerable progress." He received his 
board and one hundred and fifty dollars for ten months. "I 
will have a fine opportunity for study, as I have seldom seen 
a more pleasant room. It is in the second story, on the south 
side of the house ; has a fine fire-place, and a chimney that 
draws well — the first thing I noticed, as I was terribly an- 
noyed by a smoking chimney at Mrs. Rice's. My floor is 
carpeted. ... I never lived in the country before, and 
expect to feel a little lonesome sometimes. It is not exactly 
low spirits that I have now and then, but an indescribable 
something that I know is not happiness." 



4 8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



He repeatedly speaks of Mrs. Read's kindness, sending 
dainties to his room when his appetite was poor, and looking 
out for his health and comfort like a mother. He also speaks 
of the delightful living and the abundance of all good things, 
even in the every-day fare of the family. He attended a 
public dinner at "the festival of the Gaston and Raleigh 
Railroad," at which there were "a hundred lambs on the 
table." 

The habits of the country, at this time, were a great shock 
to him, accustomed, as he had been, to the moral atmosphere 
of x\thens, O., and Prince Edward, Va. Horse-racing, cock- 
fighting and gambling occupied the thoughts of the young* 
men of means, while once, while he was there, the young men 
had a "gander pulling," a sport the brutality of which he 
had never even conceived of. 1 Yet, while he shrank from 
whatever was low and defiling, he was not a "soft," and 
often astonished the young "sports" by beating them at their 
own games. He was struck with the fact that in many fam- 
ilies there was such a contrast between the sons and the 
daughters : 

Very often you will find the girls modest, well-informed, 
refined, and the young men boisterous, lazy, fox-hunting 
ninnies. I went to Mrs. D.'s about sundown on Friday. 
After tea, the girls and I were engaged in a very pleasant 
chat when their great, overgrown, sandy-haired brother 
yelped out, like one of his own hounds, "Mr. Hoge, many 
coons in Ohio ?" "I hear blooded horses mighty scarce in 
your country; I just like to show you my filly." And so 
every pause was filled in — and he did not wait for pauses — 
with his "double-triggers," "pointers," "fish-traps," etc. 

1 As a mark of the progress of humanity, it may be well to give his 
description of this sport : "They take a [live] gander, strip his head and 
neck of feathers, grease it, and tie him to the top of a post. Two men are 
stationed at the post with cowhides. A company of young men, mounted 
on horses, successively ride by at full speed, and as they dart by make 
a grasp at the head of the gander. Those at the post ply their cowhides 
to keep the horses at full speed as they pass. The one who pulls the 
head of the gander off wins the purse !" 



Student Days. 



49 



At last he edged a draught board between two verses of 
Mrs. Sigourney, and challenged me to play, saying it 
was "as easy to tree a bear up a dogwood as to beat him 
at draughts/' Glad to make peace on any terms, I con- 
sented, and beat him three games out of four. "Never 
mind," said he, "you say you can shoot a rifle ; we'll take a 
few rounds with old Betsy." So, after breakfast the next 
morning, he stuck up a target on the ice-house door, 
marked off seventy yards, took careful aim from a rest, 
fired, and missed the door ! As I was taking aim, he said, 
"What! you ain't going to shoot without a rest?" "Oh! 
yes," said I, "we Ohio> backwoodsmen never miss off- 
hand." So I cracked away and cut the paper. After beat- 
ing him at three jumps and fixing his gun-lock, I am 
looked on with admiration, and, by mere luck, got the repu- 
tation of being the best sportsman in the county. 

While in Granville, he made a visit to the Buffalo Springs. 1 
"As I rode over to the Springs," he wrote his mother, "on a 
descendant of the great Hereford, in my smart green close- 
body, check waistcoat and white tights, I thought I must be 
a right trim-looking fellow ;" but when he saw the dandies 
at the Springs, with their many suits, and the exact corres- 
pondence of all parts of their dress, when they "wore a blue 
coat, having stock and handkerchief also of blue," he felt 
quite thrown into the shade. He was not averse to a little 
gaiety himself, and occasionally joined in a dance, but had 
little patience with man or woman that thought of nothing 
else. "The morals of this country," he wrote of his visit to 
the Springs, "will compare favorably, I suppose, with the 
state of things in the days of Elizabeth or Charles I. It ap- 
pears to me that the people of Ohio are about two centuries 
in advance in some things, but as inferior in others as Lake 
Mattamusket to blue Erie itself." In other words, he liked 
the serious tone of life he saw in Ohio, and the open- 
handed hospitality and generosity of the Virginians and 
Carolinians. In one little town that he visited — quite a 
centre of old-time society and fashion — there was "but 

1 Now known as the Buffalo Lithia Springs. 



50 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



one member of the church, and he a member of the Jockey 
Club." 

In the midst of surroundings so unfavorable for develop- 
ing his serious impressions, he cultivated the more earnestly 
the society of such Christian people as he knew. With espe- 
cial warmth does he speak of Dr. S. L. Graham, then the 
pastor of a group of churches in his neighborhood, and after- 
wards one of his theological instructors at Union Seminary. 
He writes his mother : 

I spent a very pleasant day and night with the Rev. Dr. 
Graham. Of all characters on the earth, I love and respect 
a sensible, kind-hearted Presbyterian minister. Dr. Gra- 
ham was run in the good old mould. He thinks Uncle 
James is just the thing. 

In February (1838) he wrote: 

Presbytery meets in Oxford, twenty miles to the south of 
us. A few days will intervene between presbytery and the 
meeting of the Seminary Board, and Uncle Drury is ex- 
pected to spend the time here assisting Dr. Graham in a 
protracted meeting. The sacrament will then be adminis- 
tered, and if my life is spared, I hope to occupy a seat at 
the table of the Lord. I know, my dear mother, you will 
join in the prayer that it may be a profitable season to me. 
I think it very important that the first approach should be 
made in a right frame of mind. I feel that no event that 
has ever happened to me is as solemn and important in its 
results as the time when the sinner acknowledges pub- 
licly his submission to God, and takes the vows of the 
church upon him. May God give me grace to make a more 
unreserved surrender of all that I have and am, at that 
time, that I have ever done before! I had rather be the 
meanest and humblest Christian on earth than to enjoy all 
the pleasures the world can give, even if I could enjoy 
them forever. I hope I do not say this in any spirit of self- 
confidence, for if I have mortified my pride and made any 
progress in grace, of all the agents I have been the most 
passive and inefficient. 



Student Days. 



5i 



Again (May 16th) he wrote: 

On the Sabbath, I trust, I was enabled to commit my all 
into the hands of the Saviour, of whose broken body and 
shed blood I for the first time partook. It was with fear 
and trembling that I took my seat with the Lord's professed 
followers ; yet I believe it was good for me to be there. 
May God give me more faith and zeal, and complete the 
change which, I humbly hope, he has commenced in this 
unfeeling heart of mine. 1 

Of that first communion he recalled that he passed the 
whole time in weeping. He could not analyze his feelings, 
nor explain just why. His tears did not lie near the surface, 
but his emotions were deep. 

That fall he returned to college for his senior year. The 
break in the course — generally such a disadvantage to a 
student — he turned into an advantage, by making the teach- 
ing of his pupils a review to himself of the elementary 
studies, while in private he reviewed his more advanced 
studies in the determination to "graduate at least passably." 
Instead, too, of destroying that class feeling which grows up 
from pursuing the whole course with the same class, he 
retained the warmest affection for the members of both the 
classes with which he was associated, and inspired the same 
life-long affection in them. Among the friends of his col- 
lege days one thinks first of the great theologian at whose 

1 It is impossible to say with certainty where this first communion took 
place. The above extract is from the midst of an account of a meeting 
of West Hanover Presbytery at Charlotte Court-house. He had accom- 
panied his Uncle Drury to Hampden-Sidney as he went to the meeting 
of the board, and thence went to Charlotte Court-house to attend the 
preaching during presbytery. On the other hand, my uncle told me, 
only a few years ago, that his first communion was in North Carolina. 
It may be that he was received into the church at the time of his Uncle 
Drury's visit, but for some reason the sacrament was not celebrated ac- 
cording to the expectation expressed in his February letter, so that he 
did not partake of the communion until the opportunity was offered at 
Charlotte Court-house. His name is on the roll of Shiloh Church, in 
Granville county, N. C. 



52 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



grave he stood just a year before his own departure and pro- 
nounced his glowing eulogy upon the scholar and thinker, 
and his tender tribute to the man and friend — Robert L. 
Dabney; of the genial and scholarly editor of the Central 
Presbyterian, William T. Richardson, whose last years were 
spent again in intimate association with him, and to whom 
also he paid the last sad tribute of love ; of the courtly Chris- 
tian gentleman, Charles S. Carrington, so long an elder in 
his church; of the honorable lawyer and upright judge, 
Frank D. Irving; of Thomas S. Bocock, the first Speaker of 
the Confederate House of Representatives; and of that 
saintly, lovable, gifted soul, who never seemed quite at home 
in this world, John G. Shepperson. He survived them all, 
and he loved them all to the end. When Dr. Richardson 
died, he remarked with great feeling, "That is the last mem- 
ber of my class/' Dr. Dabney was still living, but he be- 
longed to the class with which he began, not that with which 
he graduated. 

The first public speech made by Mr. Hoge, so far as is 
known, was the Fourth of July oration, during one of the 
years of his course. The college had a summer term at that 
time, and the Fourth of July was celebrated with consider- 
able eclat. There was an oration by one of the students, and 
it was one of the honors of the college to be appointed to 
deliver it. After the public exercises there was a banquet, 
attended by the distinguished men of the surrounding coun- 
ties, where wit and wine flowed freely. The only reference 
to this performance is in a letter from one of his sisters to 
her brother William, "Moses writes that he is to deliver the 
Fourth of July oration; when will you be doing anything 
so grand?" 

In August, 1839, Mrs. Hoge writes to William: "Your 
brother writes us that he has passed his final examinations, 
and that the first honor was given him. He did not seem 
to feel so much elation at his own success as sympathy for 
a young man who expected the honor." 



Student Days. 



53 



The faded commencement programme is preserved, dated 
September 25, 1839. The salutatory is delivered by Francis 
D. Irving, of Cumberland; the Philosophical oration by 
William C. Carrington, of Charlotte; the Patriotic oration 
by Charles S. Carrington, of Halifax, on "The Present Pol- 
icy and Future Fate of Arbitrary Governments" ; the Clio- 
sophic oration by William T. Richardson, on "Modern Elo- 
quence." The Masters' orations were delivered by J. Ver- 
non Cosby, of Prince Edward, and J. W. Clapp, of Abing- 
don. Other orations were "The Spirit of Independence," 
by Samuel Branch, Jr. ; "The Responsibilities of American 
Youth," by Willis Wilson, of Cumberland; and "Political 
Morality," by William B. Shepard, of Buckingham. Wil- 
liam H. Anderson, of Nottoway, and John A. Lancaster, of 
Buckingham, made orations whose subjects are not given. 
Last came "The Desecration of Literature, with the Valedic- 
tory Addresses," by Moses D. Hoge, of Prince Edward, and 
the exercises closed with the conferring of degrees and the 
baccalaureate address by the president. The late Judge F. 
R. Farrar, of Amelia, was present at this commencement, 
and a few years ago described it in a letter to the Richmond 
Dispatch: 

Dr. Hoge won the first honor, and was the valedictorian. 
While at college he gained a widespread reputation as an 
orator. I have often heard the members of his society say 
that his speeches in debate were brilliant and powerful. 
A great crowd was at the commencement to hear the youth- 
ful orator. My father and mother carried me with them; 
I was a mere boy, possibly not over ten years of age. The 
president of the college introduced the speaker. He was a 
tall youth, lithe and graceful in every movement. His 
cheeks were pale and colorless. There was some nervous- 
ness in his manner. I was too young to understand all 
that he said, but there was something in his parting words 
that impressed me — his tone, his look, the melting cadence 
of his voice. I gazed up in my mother's face ; her eyes 
were filled with tears. I pressed closer to her side, and 
wept bitterly. 



54 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



His own account is as modest as it is brief, "I could write 
you a volume about commencement. The day was delight- 
ful, neither cool or hot ; clear, with a bracing breeze stirring. 
The speeches were neither too long nor too short; no one 
was wearied, and all left in good spirits. The general remark 
was that it was the most pleasant commencement ever wit- 
nessed in that church." The letter was to his mother, and 
was filled with an earnest appeal to her to come and visit 
him, for now he had been elected tutor in the college ; every 
one was asking, "When is your mother coming to see us?" 
He would take her to Montrose at Christmas, and return 
with her in the fall to Tennessee. 

It was not to be. She was never to see Virginia again. 
Already the insidious malady that -was to end her earthly 
life had begun its inroads. The family were now in Gallatin, 
Tenn. On leaving Granville, they had removed to Zanes- 
ville, where Anne Lacy was teaching, and where in the 
spring of 1838 she was married to William H. Marquess. 
In the following winter they removed to Gallatin, where Mr. 
Marquess took charge of a seminary for girls, and where 
Mrs. Hoge's only sister, formerly Mrs. Brookes, now Mrs. 
Rogers, lived. William was left in Ohio to enter college at 
Athens. 

All that year the scattered family were anticipating the 
reunion in the fall. It was one of those bright hopes that 
Heaven permitted to be fulfilled. 

In June, after the spring vacation, which he had spent at 
his uncle Thomas Hoge's, Moses writes his sister : 

The morning I left, Uncle Thomas gave me a clean- 
limbed filly, daughter of a mare he bought from Colonel 
William R. Johnson, Medley and Diomede stock, Alonzo 
and American Eclipse being her sire and grandsire. I shall 
keep her at the college and train her during the summer for 
my journey next fall. The session will end September 9th, 
and vacation will continue to November 1st, so that in 
three months I expect to set my face Tennessee-wards. If 
it is possible, William must be there. I received a long 



Student Days. 



55 



letter from Mr. Ballantine last week in which he says that 
William is popular with the faculty and students ; that he 
is studious, learns well in all departments, and is very 
promising. This to me was indeed glad tidings. Give him 
credit for all this when you write. It will stimulate him 
if you let him know that you think well and expect much of 
him. I am going to send you the Albion or Southern Lit- 
erary Messenger. W. C. Rives and Henry Clay are ex- 
pected at Cumberland Court-house next month; also the 
Honorable Mr. Benton and others at a Democratic dinner 
in Farmville. I will try to see them all. 

This afternoon I am going up to Uncle Horace's to spend 
Saturday and Sunday, and exercise my Horse a little. 
Horse should always be spelled with a capital letter, being 
the noblest of created animals, man not excepted ; for look 
at the Hottentots, the Hindoos, the Laplanders, the Loco- 
focos, and tell us if they maintain the same uniform re- 
spectability of character that horses do ! A Horse, whether 
in Shetland, Arabia, the South American plains, or in civ- 
ilized lands, is a gentleman. But I did not mean to fly the 
track at such a canter. 

Who that has seen him galloping by on "Lucille" on crisp, 
bright mornings before breakfast, or that has seen his delight 
in showing off her accomplishments, and making her come 
at his call, does not recognize the man they knew in the 
youth who wrote that letter ? Or rather, I should say, recog- 
nize the perennial youth, in the man they knew and loved ? 

His determination to hear Clay, Rives, Benton, and others 
brings out another characteristic that he never lost — his 
eagerness to learn from men, as well as books. A little later 
he speaks of going to Farmville daily to the sessions of the 
Methodist conference, that he may hear their leading men, 
and learn their methods. While at college he went to 
"Roanoke," the home of Randolph, to see it just as it was 
in his life time, and on his visit to Tennessee he went to the 
"Hermitage" to see Andrew Jackson. The year before this 
he made a horseback trip to the Valley of Virginia with Dr. 
Graham, who had now become a professor in the seminary, 
and while he writes glowingly of the scenery and the won- 



56 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



ders of nature, he seems most interested in "old Father 
Mitchell :" 1 "He is now ninety-three years old, and perhaps 
the oldest minister in the United States who preaches regu- 
larly. He dresses just as they used to at the close of the last 
century — long-waisted coat, standing collar, broad skirts, 
shorts, knee buckles and top-boots. He looks more like an 
Egyptian mummy than any living creature I ever saw, yet he 
thinks nothing of mounting his horse and riding forty miles 
in a day. . . . All through this country I found family 
friends. Some one said of me, ' He is mighty like his 
mother,' but the old man said, 'No, he favors Davies the 
most' " 

There might well be room for difference of opinion on this 
point. He derived his stature from the Lacys, his spare form 
from the Hoges. The warm bronze of his complexion was 
from his mother, and he had his mother's eyes. But there 
was in his eyes a flashing intensity that came from his 
father, as did the aquiline cast of his features. He did not 
inherit his mother's musical gifts, as did his brother and sis- 
ters, but through her he derived the wonderful voice of his 
grandfather Lacy, with just enough of the nasal quality of 
Dr. Hoge to produce those resonant trumpet blasts that 
gave variety and power to its marvellous silver cadences. 
His gesture, too, had its beauty from Mr. Lacy ; its nervous 
intensity, and those strange, impressive, angular motions, 
that seemed all his own, from Dr. Hoge. From both sides 
he was entitled to quick sensibilities and tender emotions, but 

1 Shortly before Father Mitchell died, he told Mr. Shepperson this 
interesting fact in connection with the Rev. Drury Lacy, which Mr. 
Shepperson thus communicates to his friend : 

" In the early part of their ministry, he and your Grandfather Lacy 
made an agreement that each should remember the family of the other 
at the throne of grace every Sabbath morning. This was adhered to 
strictly as long as your grandfather lived — at the time of his death all 
his children, except your Uncle Drury, and all of Mr. Mitchell's children, 
thirteen, were hopefully pious." 

The exception was underscored because he had long been a devoted 
minister of the gospel. He was converted under Mr. Nettleton, after 
his father's death. 



Student Days. 



57 



Iris extraordinary range of emotional expression came from 
the Lacys, and his no less extraordinary power of repression 
and self-command from the Hoges. So, too, the penetration 
and vigor of his intellect, his perseverance in investigation 
and his thoroughness in mastery of a subject, came from his 
father's side, while the refinements and charm of his literary 
quality were the marked characteristics of his mother's fam- 
ily. In a word, strength and power came most largely from 
the Hoges, beauty and grace from the Lacys. From both 
sides he inherited a dignity of character, a conscientious 
devotion to duty, and a sense of obligation to do something, 
.and be something in the world. 

The fall came around, and the family was once more to- 
gether. The father, it is true, was gone, but the eldest 
daughter held in her happy arms a tiny pledge that this 
good stock was not to perish from the earth. 

Of that reunion we have no record of incident, for, as all 
were together, no letters were exchanged. But it remained 
a bright memory for all the days that were to come, though 
over its brightness at the time there hung the shadow of 
death. All knew that it was to be the last. We can only 
imagine the mother's pride and joy in resting her fond eyes 
once again upon her two boys, one the thoughtful young man 
with a sense of life's responsibilities upon him, the other a 
laughing, loving boy, full of all hope and promise; both 
overflowing with a love and tenderness that each expressed 
in his own way. Brothers and sisters found new joy in each 
other, and opened to each other their hearts expanding with 
new experience and aspiration. But the centre of the circle 
was the couch of the sufferer, and all dreaded the hour of 
-parting. Parting is always sad ; sometimes it is tragic. But 
it had to come, and was gotten over somehow; as such 
things are. Just afterwards Mr. Marquess wrote William 
(October 27, 1840) : 

On my return from the stage to your mother's room, I 
found her, as I expected, under deep feeling at the idea of 
having in all probability taken a final earthly leave of her 



58 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



sons. It was not long, however, before she became com- 
posed. She has since manifested much tenderness of feel- 
ing towards you and Moses, making frequent mention of 
your names, and sending her blessing after you. ... I 
think your mother continues to decline. 

At last he writes, on November 20, 1840 : 

Your good mother continued to decline until the day 
before yesterday, when at eleven o'clock a. m. she breathed 
her last. She died in peace and retained her reason to the 
last, and, until a few moments before she ceased to breathe, 
was able to utter her thoughts. Just before she died Eliza- 
beth told me to ask her if she knew us. I did so, but she 
gave no sign. I then asked her if she knew her Saviour 
and felt his presence. She gently nodded her head, pleas- 
antly raised her eyes to heaven, and expired. 

We received your letter on the 6th, and one from Moses 1 
by the same mail. Your mother was desiring to hear from 
"her boys" once more before she died, and was gratified. 
She wanted you and Moses to know how well attended she 
was during her illness, particularly as she became worse 
after you left. Your Aunt Rogers was her "Angel of 
Mercy," as she termed her." 

She was buried in Gallatin, but was afterwards removed 
to her husband's side in Athens. Her death brought to fru- 
ition the seed that her life had sown. Early in 1841 William 
was received into the church in Athens, and in the latter 
part of the year Elizabeth united with the church in Galla- 
tin. She thus announces it to William : 

At the last communion season, I — the last of my family- 
in every good word and work — united with the church. I 
know that you will rejoice at this. Moses says in relation 
to it, "Although our mother has left us, the happy fruit of 
her prayers is even now experienced on the earth. The 
children of parents passed into the skies, may it ever be our 
constant ambition to imitate them, even as they imitated 
their Lord and ours. You bear the name, and that you 

1 Moses' letter was from New Orleans. To avoid the long horseback 
ride through Tennessee and Virginia, he went by river steamboats to* 
New Orleans, and by sea to Norfolk. 



Student Days. 



59 



may inherit all the virtues without the trials of our de- 
parted mother, is the highest wish I can make for you." 
Much more he adds about our mother, her character as a 
mother, a woman and a Christian ; it is all worthy of being 
in print, and when the Life and Writings of Moses D. 
Hoge, D. D., are being written, this letter shall find place — 
part of it, at least. 

Dear young enthusiast, prophesying with the insight of 
love that which should come to pass, but which your eyes- 
were never to see, your wish should be fulfilled had not the 
letter perished, save for the quoted fragment. But long 
years after another letter (to Mrs. Marquess) was written 
that reproduces the thoughts of that time, and it shall take 
its place : 

Richmond, Va., November 18, 1878. 

My Dear Sister: It is thirty-eight years to-day since 
our precious mother died ! 

And now, as I pause a moment and look at the sentence I 
have written, it has an incredible look about it. Not in- 
credible that she is dead, but that nearly forty years have 
fled since that event. More years than our father lived in 
his whole life ! 

It seems so strange that this can be true; that I could 
have lived so many years, and yet feel as fresh and strong 
and young (of course I am not jesting now) as I do this 
day. Thirty-eight years since our mother died, and our 
father only lived to see thirty-three ! 

He died, as you know, on Christmas night, in 1826. I 
remember the scene well. When I think of it, I feel as if it 
may have occurred just when it did or five hundred or a 
thousand years ago. After a certain lapse of time, I 
imagine, when we come to analyze our feelings — or rather 
our sense of duration — we entirely lose our ability to con- 
ceive of it, and it becomes utterly vague and indefinite. ( I 
have never seen this referred to by any writer, but I have 
often experienced it.) The impression, the conviction of 
being still young, owing to perfect physical health and 
perennial freshness of feeling — all the poetry and romance 
of life being as vivid as ever, makes these old dates seem 
like a reproach, a painful reality. A few weeks of sickness, 
or rather the real giving away of the constitutional vigor,. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



would change all this and make these long remembrances 
seem entirely natural, and I do not forget that I may at 
any time be brought, and that very suddenly, too, to the 
realization. 

I have kept some of the journals I wrote while a college 
student — though I do not keep any now — and I find this 
record: "January 6, 1841. Last night I learned by the 
Watchman of the South" (Dr. Plumer's paper) "that my 
dear mother died on the 18th of November." (In those 
days news was transmitted so slowly that now it appears 
almost absurd.) "She is now with her Saviour, with the 
church triumphant, with her father and mother and hus- 
band, with more relations and friends than she left behind. 
She has bidden an eternal adieu to the pains and toils and 
disquietudes of this weary life — and hers were many — and 
has gone to the place where she is — 

" ' No more to sigh nor shed the bitter tear, 

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.' 

"Dear mother ! shall it not henceforth be my highest 
ambition to follow in your footsteps ? God grant that your 
parting words, 'It is not for ever,' may prove true ! 

" ' My mother, when I learnt that thou wast dead, 
Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed? 
Hovered thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son?' 

"Long shall the anniversary of thy death be consecrated 
to the remembrances of thy virtues." (I am grateful to say 
that this feeling is as strong in my heart as it was thirty- 
eight years ago.) "Were I to say that my mother was the 
most perfect being I ever knew, the remark would be as- 
cribed to filial partiality, but the thought may be cherished 
in my inner sanctuary of the bosom which no eye but that 
•of God can penetrate." 

5jx jjx 5jc 5jC 5jC >Jc 

Your ever affectionate brother, 

Moses D. Hoge. 

" Happy he, 
With such a mother ! faith in womankind 
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him, and tho' he trip and fall, 
He shall not blind his soul with clay." 



CHAPTER IV. 



Preparation for the Ministry. 

"The path by which we twain did go, 

Which led by tracts that pleased us well, 
Thro' four sweet years arose and fell, 
From flower to flower, from snow to snow, 
* * * * 

""When each by turns was guide to each, 
And Fancy light from Fancy caught, 
And Thought leapt out to wed with Thought 
Ere Thought could wed itself to Speech."— Tennyson. 

NEAR the end of Mr. Hoge's college course, his kinsman, 
the Rev. Dr. B. M. Smith, then a young minister, ap- 
proached him on the subject of the ministry. It was a subject 
to which, with his ancestry and his gifts, his serious turn of 
mind and his religious principles, he must already have given 
thought. But his answer was remarkable. He replied that 
he did not think it would be worth while for him to study 
a profession, as he did not expect to live long enough to 
practice it. At this period of his life, and for many years 
after, he was of a bilious temperament that was not only 
itself depressing, but that suggested the type of disease that 
had so early ended his father's life. Could a flash of the 
future have fallen on his vision, revealing a half century's 
ministry crowned by such demonstration as is ordinarily 
awarded only to heroes returning in victory from the field of 
battle, or statesmen whose beneficent rule has brought na- 
tions to honor and prosperity, how would the pale, despon- 
dent youth have leaped to his task. But God leads us on by 
other means, and without such vision the mood passed. His 
resolve must have been made during the first year of his 
tutorship — the year before his mother died ; for he wrote to 
her (July 14, 1840), alluding to it as a settled question: 



62 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Mr. Maxwell was at my room the other day, and urged 
the old subject of my remaining in the college. He said he 
did not wish me to abandon my determination to engage in 
nothing that would prevent my studying divinity, but in- 
sisted that both might be done, and that the one would be 
auxiliary to the other. He referred me to my grandfathers, 
and Drs. Smith, Rice, Alexander, and others, who had been 
eminently useful both as preachers and instructors. I have 
taken the matter into serious consideration. 

When he left his mother's bedside the following fall, it 
was to enter upon his studies in Union Theological Seminary 
in addition to his duties in the college. 

No letter of the time tells us just what were his thoughts 
in reaching this conclusion, but, in a letter written in his early 
ministry to his younger brother, we see that he makes the 
grounds of a call to the ministry to consist in fitness for the 
work, the good to be accomplished, and the need for prop- 
erly qualified ministers; in other words, the divine call 
works upon a rational mind through rational means. He 
writes : 

Dr. McGufTey was here some months since, and we had 
several long conversations about you and your prospects. 
We both regretted that you had not yet seen your way clear 
to commence the study of theology. We agreed that your 
qualifications and constitution of mind seemed peculiarly 
to fit you for usefulness in the ministry. You are perfectly 
aware of the fact that, should you be instrumental in the 
conversion of one sinner, you would, in "saving a soul 
from death," accomplish more real good for time and for 
eternity, than you could in any secular calling, however 
useful and honorable. You must be aware, too, that God 
has endowed you with such gifts as seem to point to the 
propriety of engaging in his service in that very mode. 
Never before has the church, especially our Southern 
Church, so much needed ministers of the right stamp and 
order of talents. My dear brother, be careful how you 
disregard the teachings of God's providence and the opin- 
ions of those who are entitled to your consideration. 



Preparation for the Ministry. 63 

The Faculty of the Seminary had been reorganized shortly 
"before Mr. Hoge began his studies. The venerable Dr. 
Baxter, who had succeeded Dr. Rice as professor of Sys- 
tematic Theology, was still at its head, but two of the 
professors, adhering to the New School, were removed by 
the Board, and their places were filled by Dr. Samuel L. 
Graham in the chair of Ecclesiastical History and Polity, 
and the Rev. Francis S. Sampson as Assistant Instruc- 
tor. Mr. Hoge's previous relations with Dr. Graham we 
have already seen. Mr. Sampson was then in the youthful 
promise whose golden prime shed such lustre upon the insti- 
tution. Of Dr. Baxter, as he remembered him, Dr. Hoge 
spoke in his reminiscences at the seventieth anniversary of 
the Seminary in 1894 : 

Dr. Baxter was senior professor in this Seminary when 
T came as a student to Hampden- Sidney College. That 
picture [pointing to the portrait on the wall] does not give 
a correct idea of the face or form of that noble man. It 
fails to represent the majesty of his real presence. Nor 
do the fragments of his writings which have been pre- 
served give any adequate idea of his intellectual power. 
How much it is to be regretted that he did not commit to 
writing the great thoughts which gave such dignity and 
impressiveness to his extempore discourses. There were 
heroes before Agamemnon, but "they had no poet, and 
they died." Baxter had no reporter, and the world is 
poorer because his discourses have not been transmitted 
to us. It has been my privilege to hear many of the most 
distinguished divines in our own and in foreign lands. I 
have heard few who surpassed Dr. Baxter in argumenta- 
tive force, in pathos, or in pulpit effectiveness. He had one 
unique peculiarity. Often in the midst of a logical passage 
his cheek would flush, his face quiver, and great tears 
would flow down his manly face. What in the world could 
be so strangely affecting Dr. Baxter in that argumentative 
paragraph? It was that he possessed a wonderful power 
of anticipating what he was going to say. Before he had 
finished the logical discussion, he was thinking of some 
tender scene in the life of our Lord which he intended to 



6 4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



depict. Before he got to the place he was trembling with 
emotion at the sight of the dear, sad cross, standing full in 
his view, in its mournful, unutterable glory, and then 
flowed the irrepressible tears — tears that touched all hearts 
and prepared them for what was coming. I do not know 
of any other speaker who ever affected his hearers in a 
similar way. As a teacher in the class-room his method 
was peculiar. If a young man stated an untenable position, 
and especially if he was self-confident, it was the Doctor's 
method never to answer him at all, but to ask him question 
after question, as a lawyer would cross-question a witness, 
until he made him wind himself up completely and so dis- 
cover his error; and then the good Doctor would shake 
all over with a gentle laugh, not derisive, but kindly (he 
weighed between two and three hundred), and his end was 
gained, and the pupil loved the preceptor all the more for 
the kindly confutation. 

Dr. Baxter died in the first year of Mr. Hoge's theological 
course, and then began Dr. Samuel B. Wilson's twenty-eight 
years of useful and honorable service. 

The standard of scholarship among the students does not 
seem to have been high. Or perhaps our young student, with 
his own high ideals, had not yet acquired that large charity 
of judgment for which he was afterwards so conspicuous. 
His friend, John G. Shepperson, then just out of the Sem- 
inary, gives sympathy mingled with gentle rebuke in his 
reply to one of Mr. Hoge's letters : 

I was much amused with the account you gave me of 
the debate in the Seminary. The chastisement you gave 

H was just; but before proceeding further with this 

kind of work, you ought to deliberate thoroughly whether 
you are willing to be the Ishmael of the institution. He 
who makes it his business to expose presumptuous ignor- 
ance will find ample employment, but small thanks. Were 
there a prospect of improvement, the chance of profit might 
be worth the hazard, but — (Proverbs xxvii. 22 will com- 
plete the sentence, though in stronger terms than are ap- 
plicable to the case). 



Preparation for the Ministry. 



65 



I am sorry to hear so bad an account as to the standard 
of literary attainments in the Seminary. If our professors 
will not guard the sacred office from the intrusion of un- 
educated, or, what is still worse, half-educated men, I do 
hope our presbyteries will. This has been one of the most 
fruitful sources of those difficulties from which we are 
just beginning to recover. Let the same course be per- 
sisted in, and their renewal and permanency are inevitable. 

But if Mr. Hoge found the scholarship of most of his 
fellow-students disappointing, there were a number to whom 
he was warmly attached, and there was one to whom his soul 
was knit as the soul of Jonathan to David. John Parsons 
Greenleaf, born of a well-known New England family, had 
come to Virginia on account of his health, making his home 
in Nottoway county, where he became a member of the 
church under the care of Dr. Theodorick Pryor. He en- 
tered Union Seminary the year that Moses Hoge became 
tutor in the college. Both were men of quick perceptions, 
delicate sensibilities, with all the mental and spiritual sym- 
pathies of richly endowed natures, and their friendship was 
immediate and constant. In discoursing with one another of 
the high themes that occupied their thoughts and the high 
ideals that filled their souls, they drew from one another the 
richest and best that was in their hearts. Their earthly 
intercourse was brief. Mr. Greenleaf went abroad upon the 
completion of his studies in the hope of recuperating his 
strength in the south of France, before entering upon the 
work to which Presbytery had licensed him. He was greatly 
benefited, and embarked for his return on the same ship in 
which he had gone over — a sailing vessel, chosen for the 
sake of the prolonged benefit of the sea voyage. From Mar- 
seilles he wrote Mr. Floge a most cheerful letter, full of joy- 
ous anticipations of home and friends. He finished it on 
board, and sent it back by the pilot, closing thus : 

Our anchors are up. My traps are all on board. I am 
looking out of the window at the motley crowd on the 



66 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



quay. God speed the ship. Daybreak will find us on our 
way. I ought to have written you a different sort of letter, 
for this may be the last. If I never write to you again, 
farewell. Remember me most kindly to our friends, and 
believe me to the last, theirs and yours, J. P. G. 

A few days after, a sudden squall struck the vessel, so that 
she careened almost on her beam ends. Feeling the lurch, 
Mr. Greenleaf sprang from his seat on deck and grasped a 
ring of the mast. The wrench as the vessel righted herself 
was so severe as to cause a rupture of the lung. The hem- 
orrhage could not be assuaged, and he died in a few hours, 
and his body was committed to the sea. 

His father saw that the vessel had been spoken and went 
to the pier to meet him. "The story of that heart-breaking 
return," writes the Rev. Dr. Edward P. Terhune, his 
brother-in-law, "to those who had been joyously awaiting 
the son and husband and brother, is one of the saddest recol- 
lections of my childhood." 

But to Mr. Hoge this was not the end of their friendship ; 
it only made it a more sacred thing. Yet he did not cherish 
it as a dead relic to be kept in a casket. It was a living 
fountain, flowing fresh and clear to the end, sending out 
streams of sentiment and sympathy, associating itself with 
all the fuller and larger experiences of his growing manhood 
and age, and with the visions and hopes of the infinite future. 
One instinctively thinks of Tennyson's friendship for Hal- 
lam, but there was one feature of this devotion of Mr. Hoge 
for his friend that was, if possible, more beautiful : the 
world knew nothing of it; and even those nearest to him 
never suspected that, while he was pursuing his earnest, 
throbbing, intense life, in the active, living present, this 
beautiful love of his youth was fresh and fragrant and 
youthful still. To Mr. Greenleaf s venerable and saintly 
father, the Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf, of Brooklyn, he gave 
the reverence and affection of a son. He always spoke 
of him as "the good old shepherd." To the young widow of 



Preparation for the Ministry. 



6 7 



Iris friend, a daughter of noble old Judge Terhune, of New 
Brunswick, he gave the love of a brother, and for forty-six 
years, until her death in 1889, their correspondence flowed 
on — an unfailing tribute to a common devotion, and an ever 
fresh memorial of a common sorrow. 

Only an extract here and there through the long years of 
this life-poem can be given. 

Paris, October 16, 1854. 
My Dear Sister Mary: When I reached this brilliant 
city, I found another of your sweet letters, full of resigna- 
tion for your trials, of thankfulness for your mercies, and 
of sympathy for my joys in this wonderfully delightful 
journey. That was a charming picture you drew of your 
chamber, and of its inmate, during Susan's visit. 

I was turned back by a company of Austrian soldiers, 
and not permitted to go to Florence, because I had been 
where cholera had been. But I did not lose Genoa. Why 
did I go there? For one reason only, to see the Mediter- 
ranean ! I saw it sweetly sleeping in the moonlight, and 
the next day flashing its waves in the face of the sun, and 
while on its banks I wrote a page in my journal which I 
tear out and enclose for you. 

[Extract from his Journal.'] 
October 3J. I am on the top of the tower of a church 
on the highest hill in Genoa. Just beneath me the waves of 
the blue Mediterranean kiss the shore. I am alone — as I 
wish to be, when I look for the first time on the magnificent 
tomb in whose coral chamber my friend sleeps. Here is 
the sea over which Roman navies sailed, upon which Paul 
made his voyages, whose shores Virgil sung, and where 
my noble comrade saw the last of earth and the first of 
heaven. I love the Mediterranean. Dear sister, now I 
think of you. 

Richmond, Va v May 9, 1866. 
My Dear Sister: A letter came from Bessie to-day 
informing me how much earth had lost of its attractiveness 
to you, and how much heaven had gained in taking to itself 
so much purity, goodness, gentleness and truth, that was 
incarnate in the dear old shepherd. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



But for my lively conception' of your desolate feeling" 
in having your sweetest fountain of earthly comfort dried 
up, I could only drop a tear of gratitude in the memory of 
a life so light with the beauty of holiness, and now so 
crowned with immortal blessedness. It is a thing to give 
God thanks for, that such a man was born and lived so- 
long, and then died, leaving a memory so fragrant with all 
that is lovely and of good report. 

My sister, I cannot expect you to feel with me with ref- 
erence to such events in times like these : for I am in a 
horror of great darkness at the mystery of God's provi- 
dence toward our dear land, and I count none happy but 
the blessed dead who have died in the Lord. 

But for those naturally and spiritually dependent on 
me, I would prefer this night to be sleeping beneath the 
clods of the valley, or with Parsons in some coral chamber 
of the sea. 

Richmond, Va., March 6, 1883. 

My Dear Sister : W as there ever a regard more tender 
and unchanging than that which has existed between us, 
need I say how many years? 

It has been a source of unhappiness to me that when I 
meet the friends of my youth they often seem to have lost 
the affection they once expressed, while mine has been un- 
diminished with the flight of years. 

I never get over anything. My old loves have the fresh 
morning dew upon them still; my old bereavements yet 
wear the weeds and are shaded by the cypress. I live over 
with fond delight my years of intimacy with J. P. G. ; our 
days of sunshine and our nights still brighter and more 
jubilant ; I never see the ocean that my tears do not mingle 
with its salt, sad waves. 

It was good and kind in you to write on the ever remem- 
bered 226. of February. Your letter came while I was ab- 
sent from home. . . . And so I was prevented from 
an earlier acknowledgment of your most welcome letter. 
Its clear and steady chirography assures me that, with all 
your cares and anxieties, you are stronger in health, and I 
did not need any assurance that you were unabated in 
affection. 

Your portraiture of your father's serene and beautiful 
old age was worthy both of him and of your own loyal and 



Preparation for the Ministry. 69 



tender devotion. I was grieved to hear of Mrs. Terhune's 
failing health, for she has been good to him, to you and to 
me, and what more could I ask? 

Richmond, Va., February 27, 1885. 

My Dear Sister: Since your letter, so full of sorrow, 
so full of hope, was received, I have been reviewing the 
history of our more than friendship, and the more than 
fraternal and sisterly affection that has existed between 
us, without a ripple of doubt, distrust or disagreement to 
break its clear, calm surface for nearly forty years. I 
say more than friendship and more than fraternal and 
sisterly love, because I believe the bonds of Christian 
affection have hallowed and made immortal all the ties of 
mere earthly regard. Was there ever before a confidence 
so untroubled and unruffled as ours, on which no passing 
cloud ever cast a momentary shadow ? Is not our love one 
w T hich will survive the stroke of death, and spring up and 
flourish beautiful and immortal in the paradise of God ? 

I have also been reviewing the mystery of God's dealings 
with you during all these years. Our acquaintance began 
in the inscrutable bereavement that desolated your young 
life and robbed me of half of my heart, and since that 
supreme event, how full of vicissitudes has been your lot ! 
As you were not permitted to live for one to whom you 
gave your earthly all, it has since been your mission to 
minister to one who is both Father and Mother, wise and 
watchful as the one, tender and true as the other. You 
feel that "life is worth living" while you can do this, and 
now that he is once more alone, in one sense, he was never 
less alone, not only because he has a noble son to cherish 
him, and a daughter to do all but worship him, but because 
he has a Saviour whose love and tenderness could not be 
fully manifested until old age gave him the opportunity of 
demonstrating the strength and the sweetness of all- 
sufficient grace. 

Richmond, Va., February 22, 1888. 

My Dear Sister: Although I am writing this letter 
Thursday night, it is really the 226. of February, as it is 
past one o'clock. 

Since your generous and most welcome letter was 
received I have been in no mood for writing. Day after 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



day I have been driven by my work, not driving it. Ser- 
mons, lectures, committee meetings, funeral services, visits 
to the sick and bereaved, endless arrivals and departures 
of company from my house, have taxed my time to the ut- 
most, so that with all my diligence I have not been able to 
keep abreast with my engagements, but have drifted con- 
stantly to the leeward. I once told you of my fancy for 
getting a good place and time in which to read my letters, 
and of my carrying one I once received in New York, and 
which I was anxious to read, for hours without opening it, 
until at last I found the right spot in an alcove of the 
Astor Library, and there broke the seal and luxuriated in 
the liberated treasures it contained. 

So I have waited for a propitious and genial hour in 
which to write to you, without finding it. And certainly I 
have not found it now, after a most fatiguing day and 
company at my house to-night until twelve o'clock. 

As the years pass, life grows more crowded with ex- 
acting duties, leaving less and less time for social pleasures 
and the communings which the heart is always craving. 

Is this to be the story of all the future? In all proba- 
bility it will, and the hurry and the worry will continue 
until the blessed clime is reached beyond the flight of time 
and the reign of death, and the long eternity of love will 
begin. 

You will receive this before the 22d is quite ended, and 
as you read it in your chamber at night you will be re- 
minded that I do not forget you, or the anniversary days 
(how numerous they are becoming), when memory gives 
a resurrection to all the past, and when the scenes and the 
friends of the days when we lived in the affections are all 
revived and clothed in the beauty which never fades. 

Prince Edward, Charlotte, London, Brooklyn, Mar- 
seilles, the Mediterranean, Heaven: What reminiscences, 
what joys, what griefs, what hopes these names inspire ! 

When you come to see me some time this spring, we 
will talk over these things. Or should anything prevent 
that, there is a summer coming when the skies will be blue 
and the days long, when I will find you and tell you how 
dear you ever will be to 

Your affectionate brother, 

Moses D. Hoge. 



Preparation for the Ministry. 71 



But Mr. Hoge's friendship for Mr. Greenleaf was not the 
only attachment of his student days. There was another tie 
formed which, if less unusual, was closer and tenderer, and 
like the other endured to the end. Three or four miles from 
Hampden-Sidney was the old homestead of "Poplar Hill," 
formerly the home of Francis Watkins, but then of James D. 
Wood, who had married his daughter Frances. In this 
family that fine type of English blood represented in the 
Watkins, Venable and Morton families was mingled with a 
Huguenot strain. Their French ancestress, Susanne Rochet, 
had, when a little girl, been "exported" from Sedan to 
Amsterdam in a hogshead, during the persecution that 
followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes; her sis- 
ters, already in Amsterdam, having written for their "little 
nightcap" 1 to be sent to them. In time she married Abra- 
ham Micheaux, another Huguenot emigre, and came to 
Virginia. 

In the family at Poplar Hill, where Mr. Hoge was a fre- 
quent and welcome visitor, were several young ladies, but it 
was the namesake of the "little nightcap" who won his heart. 
Between a young lady of such serious ancestry and a dig- 
nified college tutor and theologian it might be expected that 
courtship would be conducted on thoroughly correct and 
conventional lines. But young love needs its spice of 
mystery and adventure, and long afterwards in a letter 
to Mrs. Greenleaf from Hampden-Sidney this secret comes 
out : 

The old college church has been pulled down for the 
purpose of erecting a new and larger one -on the same 
spot. Part of the old wall was standing the other day, 
and gave me a fit of throat stricture as I remembered the 
spiritual and other love passages I had known in that 
church, and how often I had climbed through a window in 
that fragment of wall, night after night, to get letters and 
notes from Susan and Betty [the sister and confidante] con- 

1 Such enigmatical expressions being necessary to avert suspicion. 



72 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



cealed cunningly under the pew in which they sat. But 
what of all that? 

c Only a woman's hair.' 

Do you remember Thackeray's comment on that record 
of Swift? 

When the time had come for their love to leave its under- 
ground channel and come out into the light of day, Mr. 
Hoge took occasion to ride home one afternoon with Mr. 
Wood for the purpose of asking his consent to their engage- 
ment. Mr. Wood talked as they rode of crops and weather 
and the affairs of Church and State. Mr. Hoge listened with 
growing impatience until they reached the gate, when he 
drew rein and said : "Mr. Wood, I came with you this after- 
noon for the express purpose of speaking to you on one 
subject, and you have not given me a single moment to say 
to you what I came to say. I want to ask your consent 
to my engagement to your daughter Susan." At this 
abrupt disclosure Mr. Wood expressed the greatest sur- 
prise; said he never had thought his visits were other 
than those of friendship to the family; and readily gave 
his consent. There were others in the family who had had 
other thoughts. 

Thus happily engaged to one who filled his heart, and who 
was so richly to supplement as well as bless his life, Mr. 
Hoge must have looked forward the more eagerly to his 
approaching licensure and settlement in the ministry. 

The church that first sought his services was one to which 
he had occasionally ministered during his theological course, 
the Lacy-Hoge church, in Mecklenburg county, named for 
his two grandfathers. The correspondence is interesting; 
indeed pathetic. They argue their case with such zeal, argu- 
ing, as it seems now, against fate. They tell him that in a 
city like Richmond, holding a subordinate place to a man of 
Dr. Plumer's eminence, it will be impossible for him to 
take the position to which his gifts entitled him, or "by any 



Preparation for the Ministry. 73 



-sort of zeal and self-devotion to acquire that distinction for 
usefulness to which every minister ought to aspire." But in 
the end they pray that God may guide him "so that himself 
and all interested in his future labors may be blessed and his 
.glory advanced." And God guided him. 

At the same time his services were sought in quite a 
different direction. Through the medium of the Rev. 
John Leyburn, then of Petersburg, Va., he was invited to 
the Second Church of Mobile, Ala. He was rather disposed 
to this Southern field because of the fear he then entertained 
of some hereditary pulmonary weakness. 

But at this time Dr. Plumer was planning a forward 
movement in Richmond. His own church was far down 
town, and the old church founded by Parson Buchanan had B^*^- 
gone with the New School Assembly in the great schism. 
Thus the rapidly growing western section of the city was 
left without a Presbyterian church of the Old School. Dr. 
Plumer desired to plant a mission chapel higher up town, 
and to man it with one capable of drawing and holding the 
class of people that were moving in that direction. His pen- 
etrating eye saw in Moses Hoge the man for the place and 
the time. The story was told by Dr. Hoge on his fiftieth 
anniversary : 

It was a singular providence that brought me to this 
city. As I drew near to the end of my course in the Theo- 
logical Seminary, a little country church in Mecklenburg 
county signified its wish to engage me as its pastor as soon 
as I obtained my license. Its attention was called to me, 
no doubt, chiefly because it bore the name of both of my 
grandfathers; it was called the Lacy-Hoge Church. 
About that time, however, the venerable Dr. Plumer, then 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in this city, made 
a visit to Prince Edward, and told me I would probably be 
invited to this city to become his assistant. I assured him 
of my preference for a small country charge, at least until 
I gained some experience and had composed some ser- 
mons. The Doctor requested a meeting of the Faculty of 



74 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the Theological Seminary, explained his wishes to them,, 
and sent for me. They united in advising me to go to> 
Richmond in case I received an invitation. There was 
another small church in another county to which I had 
been recommended, but all prospect of my settlement there 
was blighted by an influential elder, who frankly told the- 
people that he did not think me qualified for the position. 
Thus in two instances my desire to become a country pastor 
was disappointed. 1 

Mr. Hoge was licensed as a probationer for the gospel 
ministry by W est Hanover Presbytery in Lynchburg, Octo- 
ber 6, 1843, i n tne same church in which his father had been 
licensed before him, under the circumstances already de- 
scribed. 2 "Thus three generations of the same family were- 
connected by this strange sequence of services in the same 
church." 3 

On his return from Lynchburg he stopped over night at a 
place where a protracted meeting was in progress in a Bap- 
tist church. He was invited to preach and did so, and that 
sermon was the means of awakening several souls. About 
the same time Judge Farrar heard him at Prides Church in 
Amelia, and thus describes the occasion : 

The church was nothing more than a barn, without 
ceiling or plastering. I recall this incident: My father, 
with others, went up to the church to arrange it for the 
Sunday service. There were some timber sleepers that lay- 
right over the pulpit. Dol Motley, a college mate of Dr. 
Hoge, was present, and he said, "Look here, if Hoge gets, 
on one of his big flights he will knock that sleeper through, 
the top of the house." The timber was cut out. On Sun- 
day a great crowd assembled to hear the young preacher. 
He announced his text distinctly and with perfect com- 
posure, "And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance,, 
and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go< 
thy way for this time ; when I have a convenient season L 



1 Memorial Address, Appendix, p. 473. 2 Page 15. 

3 Memorial Address, Appendix, p. 473. 



Preparation for the Ministry. 



7$ 



will call for thee." In a moment every eye was fixed, 
deathlike silence spread over the waiting congregation, the 
country folks gazed on him with absolute amazement, he 
rose higher and higher with his theme, swaying his hearers 
at will. 

Old Dr. Southall, a man distinguished for his literary 
attainments, said it was the finest specimen of pulpit ora- 
tory he had ever heard. Even in that first sermon that I 
heard, Dr. Hoge exhibited that matchless power of elo- 
quence which has made him famous. He caught the 
keynote : 

" Power above powers, oh ! heavenly eloquence ; 
That with strong run of commanding words 
Dost manage, guide, and master the high eminence of men's 
affections." 

From several sources comes evidence that in these first 
sermons there was not only the eloquence of intellect, but the 
eloquence that reached the heart. What heart has not been 
touched by that exquisite sketch, "His Mother's Sermon" ? 
May there not have been the same influence here? On the 
death of his mother, his mother's cousin and his venerable 
friend, the widow of Dr. Rice, wrote him : 

This tenderest tie has been broken just as you are com- 
mencing a preparation for the ministry of the gospel. It 
may be to make you a more holy, devout and heavenly 
preacher. Your beloved mother, you say, had an influence 
or connection with almost everything you did. May she 
not still have, in your course for a better world ? You may 
at last, with inconceivable joy, recount to her your labors 
here, and all your difficulties overcome by Him who has 
promised strength sufficient for our day. 



CHAPTER V. 



Early Ministry. 

"Build it well whate'er you do, 
Build it straight and strong and true, 
Build it high and clear and broad, 
Build it for the eye of God." 

AFTER a visit to Richmond in the fall of 1843, Mr. Hoge 
began his labors there, on the invitation of the session 
of the First Presbyterian Church, in the early part of 
1844, as assistant to the Rev. Dr. William S. Plumer. 
It was an inspiring relation. Dr. Plumer was a man 
marked before the whole country. In the Assembly of 1837 
he was one of that brilliant band of leaders who held the 
Assembly true to Calvinism in doctrine and Presbyterianism 
in government. He brought in the final report that cited the 
semi-congregational synods before the bar of the Assembly, 
an act whose immediate result was the New School schism, 
but whose final outcome was the perpetuation of the Pres- 
byterian Church in America as Presbyterian. In the mem- 
orable Assembly of 1838, after the withdrawal of the New 
School members, he was elected Moderator. Mr. Hoge, 
while teaching in North Carolina, reading the reports of 
that Assembly, wrote his mother : "Mr. Plumer is the very 
man for Moderator. His manner of conducting the Watch- 
man proves that he has watched and governed his temper, 
and no one doubts his abilities or knowledge of church dis- 
cipline." 

Forty-two years afterwards, at his funeral in the First 
Church, Richmond, Dr. Hoge said : 

I have witnessed many affecting scenes in this church, 
but none combining so many elements of solemn and tender 
impressiveness as this. The memories of years long 



Early Ministry. 



77 



gone by come freshly back and fill this place. The name 
that has been on so many lips to-day, in connection with this 
funeral service, is linked with the associations and the 
recollections of the whole lives of many here present. To 
a large number of this congregation that name has been a 
household word, and the form of the man of God who bore 
it familiar to them from early childhood. The look he 
wore, the tones of his voice, his slow and measured step, 
the strange power of his presence to arrest attention and 
to awaken interest — these can never be forgotten. 

And there are others who remember him with a still 
more sacred regard, because bound to him by the tie which 
connects the saved soul with the instrument of its salvation 
— the Christian child with the spiritual father — for there 
are those among the older members of this church who 
will ever bless God for the awakening sermon and the 
pastoral counsel by which they were led to receive the con- 
secrated emblems of their first communion at his hands. 
Here, also, are those who, in the bereavements and various 
forms of trial through which they have passed, long since 
his connection with this church terminated, have been com- 
forted by the assurance of his sympathy and love by the 
letters which it was the custom of his whole life to write to 
those who were in any trouble, that he might "comfort 
them with the comfort wherewith he himself was com- 
forted of God." 

Moreover, there are few of those here present to-day 
who have not seen and heard him in the pulpit. That was 
his throne. There" he proved himself the master of assem- 
blies; and whenever it was known that he would officiate 
in any church in this city, that was the signal and the assur- 
ance of an overflowing audience. Those who did not care 
for the ordinances of God's house, and rarely attended any 
church, came when it was known that he would be the 
preacher ; while those who loved the sanctuary and proved 
their devotion by their regular attendance, and who had 
heard him oftenest, were among the most anxious to hear 
him again, whenever the opportunity was afforded them. 

Thus when we remember how he was linked to this 
community in the many ways by which he indelibly im- 
pressed himself upon our people, we cannot wonder at the 
affecting demonstrations of this hour, now that all who 



78 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



can, have crowded within these walls to pay the last sad 
tribute of respect and affection to the man and the minister, 
the friend and the father, whose hand we shall not clasp 
again until "this mortal shall have put on immortality/' 
and whose voice we shall not hear again until it mingles 
in the anthem which the choristers of heaven sing to the 
glory of the King of kings. 

It is not true that out of the fulness of the heart a ready 
utterance always comes. There are times when the fulness 
of emotion makes silence more natural than speech; and 
to-day I feel that my more appropriate place would be 
among those who weep beneath this pulpit than among 
those who speak from it, for when I look upon this be- 
reaved family, upon this vast mourning assembly, and 
remember whose dust it is which this coffin encloses, I feel 
how incompetent I am for the duty assigned me — a duty 
assigned to me only because of the peculiar relations I so 
long sustained to him. 

But for Dr. Plumer, I would not have made my home 
in this city. While yet a student in the Theological Sem- 
inary, he paid me a visit and invited and advised me to 
come to Richmond on the completion of my studies there. 

The only church of which I have ever been the pastor 
was projected and fostered by him. He preached the 
dedication sermon of our house of worship, and during all 
the years since our acquaintance commenced there was 
never a ripple on the smooth current of our intercourse — 
an intercourse characterized by kindness, consideration, 
and encouragement on his part ; by reverence, devotion, 
and affection on mine. 

Such was the affection Dr. Plumer inspired in his young 
assistant; the regard he felt for Mr. Hoge is indicated by 
the fact that he preserved, labelled and filed away every scrap 
of writing he ever received from him. 

The First Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Hoge first 
ministered, was on Franklin street, a short distance above 
the Exchange Hotel and on the opposite side of the street. 
It was a plain, but dignified building of red brick, the main 
auditorium being over a high basement. When the church 



Early Ministry. 



79 



moved to its new edifice on Capitol street — on the present 
■site of the City Hall — the old building was sold and became 
"known as the Metropolitan Hall. Its convenience to the Ex- 
change Hotel made it a favorite place for political conven- 
tions. Afterwards, as the character of the surroundings 
changed, it became a low theatre, and those who had sacred 
associations with it rejoiced when it was at last torn down to 
give place to a factory. 

The Richmond of 1844 was, of course, not the Richmond 
of to-day. The aristocratic and wealthy section of the city 
lay to the north and east of the Capitol Square. The hand- 
some houses that faced the Square have given place to hotels 
.and public buildings ; but the stranger is still impressed with 
the elegant and commodious residences on lower Broad 
street, the corresponding portions of Clay and Marshall and 
the intersecting streets, while others still rear their stately 
fronts behind the Governor's Mansion, on the hill running 
down to the Exchange Hotel — once the centre of all fash- 
ionable and political gatherings in the Commonwealth. In 
this region was the home of Chief Justice Marshall, and as 
late as the time of the war between the States one of its most 
spacious mansions became the "White House of the Con- 
federacy." 1 

The city, however, had begun to grow westward. On 
Main and Franklin and Grace streets elegant residences had 
begun to appear some time before, and had even overflowed 
into the "Rutherfoord Extension" beyond First street. But 
these houses generally stood far apart in large gardens, and 
a visitor to the city, looking out of his window 'on an early 
spring morning, was more impressed with the snowy drifts 
of apple and cherry blossoms, and the pink flush of the peach 
orchards, than with the architectural beauty and material 
.growth of the city. 

When it was decided to plant a colony of the First Church, 



1 Now the Confederate Museum. 



8o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the site selected was a lot on Fifth street, near Main. Next 
door was the house built by Major Gibbon, an officer of the 
Revolutionary war, which afterwards became Dr. Hoge's 
residence for the last thirty-eight years of his life. Across 
Main street was the Allen residence, for a time the home of 
Edgar A. Poe, while opposite was the house in which Wil- 
liam Wirt wrote his Life of Henry. But in spite of the 
evident tendency and promise of this part of the city, there- 
were those who gravely doubted the wisdom of building 
"so far west." 

However, the progressive spirit prevailed, and a wooden- 
chapel was erected on this lot, until it could be seen whether 
a permanent congregation could be gathered here. 

Of the religious condition of Richmond and Virginia 
Bishop Wilmer, of Alabama, gives the following picture at 
the time he was ordained deacon — five years before Mr. 
Hoge came to Richmond : 

More than half a century ago, I was made deacon by 
Bishop Moore at the "Monumental" Church in Richmond. 
The day was bright and beautiful, a very typical Easter 
Day. Few came up to partake of the sacred feast — a few 
old people, the young conspicuously absent. Indeed, it 
was rare to find a communicant among the educated men 
of that day. The wave of French infidelity had swept 
away nearly every vestige of faith from the minds of our 
men. One of the very few who had survived the genera! 
wreck told me that, when a student at William and Mary, 
he was a guest at a dinner party given to a number of the 
distinguished men of the day. The guests made them- 
selves merry with profane anecdotes and jests. He said 
that he fell into the current of talk, and that the most 
distinguished man of the group reached round a guest 
sitting between them, and patted him on the head, con- 
gratulating him upon his " Emancipation." Said my 
friend, "It took me twenty years to get over that pat on 
my head." 

But a year or two later, he goes on, there had come a 
period of pentecostal revival in which he and the Rev. 



Early Ministry. 



81 



Mr. Johns — afterwards Bishop Johns — assisted Dr. Nor- 
wood in double-daily services at the Monumental Church. 
This revival was part of a widespread religious movement 
that pervaded the whole community and all churches. The 
precise relations of this revival to the forward movement 
planned by Dr. Plumer we do not know. Doubtless the 
growth consequent upon it made the movement possible. 
Mr. Hoge did not begin his work upon the crest of the wave, 
but the broadened and deepened religious life of the city 
presented him with a more open door, and furnished him 
a more cordial cooperation. 

Before the chapel was built, he divided the services at the 
First Church with Dr. Plumer. Afterwards he preached 
altogether at the Chapel ; but it was arranged that his second 
service should be in the afternoon — instead of the evening, 
as at the First Church — so that each could attend the second 
service of the other, and that they could more easily assist 
each other as occasion required. Thus began those after- 
noon services that for fifty-five years have been one of the 
most prominent features in the religious life of Richmond. 
Of these services Bishop Randolph once said : 1 " You see 
around you Methodists and Presbyterians, Episcopalians 
and Baptists, all singing the hymns and joining in the wor- 
ship and listening with rapt attention to the words of the 
preacher. It has been said that there is less of denomina- 
tional jealousy, and more of the broad, sweet spirit of Chris- 
tian unity among the churches in the city of Richmond than 
in the majority of communities in our land. . . . Perhaps 
these afternoon services have helped to educate' our people 
into the great principles of practical Christian unity." 

Mr. Hoge's success in Richmond was immediate and as- 
sured. The little chapel was crowded from Sunday to Sun- 
day. Names were handed in for membership; some from 
the First Church, Dr. Plumer encouraging; some from 

1 Address on the occasion of Dr. Hoge's forty-fifth anniversary. 



82 Moses Drury Hoge. 

outside — sixty-three in all. They were duly organized into 
a church, and their first act as an organized congregation 
was to call him as their pastor. The call was accepted, and 
on the evening of February 27, 1845, he was solemnly 
ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery, 
and installed the pastor of what was now called the Second 
Presbyterian Church. The ordination sermon was preached 
by the Rev. Dr. Leyburn, the charge to the pastor deliv- 
ered by Dr. Plumer, and the charge to the people by the 
Rev. Mr. Lyon. 

When he returned that evening to his rooms at the Ex- 
change Hotel an unusual welcome awaited him. Shortly 
after his settlement in Richmond, on March 20, 1844, his 
engagement to Miss Wood was consummated by a quiet 
wedding at Poplar Hill. The ceremony was unpleasantly 
remembered for the "gratuitous twenty-minute sermon" of 
the officiating minister; but all else was joy. To a dear 
friend he once wrote : 

Twenty-five years ago this moment, I was riding down 
with McClellan in the carriage from Mr. Henry E. Wat- 
kins', where I had spent the day, to Mr. Wood's. The 
hope, and joy, and dear expectation of that particular time 
comes freshly back to my memory now. I can feel at this 
instant the kiss that Susan gave me when I met her for 
a second in the passage before the wedding ceremony com- 
menced, and all the events of the evening — many of which, 
I thought, had faded out of mind — return and come out 
distinctly, as lines traced in sympathetic ink when brought 
to the presence of heat. The day after our marriage I 
went to College Hill, and in the evening to a party Mr. 
Ewell gave us. But the ride to Richmond, or rather to 
Montrose, where we spent two or three days, was unspeak- 
ably delightful. The carriage was new, the roads were 
good, the weather was bright, and heaven was in our 
hearts. 



They made their home very happily at the Exchange 
Hotel, and on his ordination night, when he returned, he 



Early Ministry. 



83 



found a tiny stranger, "made in his image, after his like- 
ness," to fill up the measure of his joys. The solemn and 
joyful experiences of that day were consecrated to the mem- 
ory of his mother, and the child was named Elizabeth Lacy. 

It is difficult for us who knew him in later years to keep in 
mind that, in entering upon the duties of his pastorate, he 
had, in addition to all the arduous labors in which he en- 
gaged, to struggle with the burden of ill-health. The follow- 
ing letter to his sister Elizabeth shows that he was not yet 
free from the anxieties of his college days. But beneath 
what appears on the face of the letter there was a deeper 
significance. What with him was only a fear was with his 
sister a fact. The insidious seeds of consumption had evi- 
dently appeared, and her young life, so full of gentleness and 
love, of brightness and aspiration, was marked for an early 
end. This letter, expressing his own thoughts and feelings, 
was his delicate and tactful way of directing her thoughts 
and feelings into the same channel, and of preparing her 
mind as gently as possible for the recognition of her condi- 
tion : 

September 2, 1845. 
Thanks to the liberality of my congregation, I was 
enabled to make a long and pleasant trip to the North. I 
spent a week in New York and Brooklyn, then went to 
West Point, and so on up the Hudson and Lake Champlain 
to Canada. ... I feel much better since I returned, but 
am not as strong as when I came to Richmond. I have 
some reason to apprehend some trouble from my lungs, 
though nothing very decided has manifested itself yet. We 
should not forget that we are of a short-lived race, and 
cannot expect to see many days upon earth. I do not an- 
ticipate old age, and it fills me with no sorrow that I cannot 
look forward to such a period. When the bodily powers 
begin to decay and the mind to decay also ; when the in- 
firmities of years come and one loses relish for the enjoy- 
ments of life and hangs as a burden upon friends — then, if 
prepared for the change, he should welcome the grave as a 
peaceful and sacred asylum, and be like the wearied trav^ 



8 4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



eller, who, when the shades of night come, calmly folds 
his mantle around him and lies down to his repose. And 
yet, should my health and strength of body and mind con- 
tinue, it seems to me I have as much to live for as anybody 
else. I have so many ties to bind me to life — many to love, 
many who love me in return, many comforts for the present 
and good prospects of happiness and usefulness for the 
future. And even should I become permanently diseased — 
an invalid for years — if I only had such a spirit of 
heavenly-mindedness as some have been blessed with, 
what right would I have to complain? It was in a sick 
chamber, where he languished for many long years, that 
the author of The Saint's Everlasting Rest enjoyed those 
anticipations of heaven which he has recorded for our 
encouragement, and whose reality he no doubt finds to be 
all the sweeter now, in contrasting his present rest with 
the disquietude he was subject to before his mortal put on 
immortality. Whether our stay on earth be long or brief, 
that which we should strive for is so to live that whether 
present or absent, living or dying, we may be the Lord's. 
I have every reason to be thankful that my lot has been 
cast here. I have a small, but growing church, and when I 
returned home the other day, the affectionate greetings of 
my people and the warm grasp of their hands encouraged 
my heart and strengthened my belief that I had a firm 
. place in their regard. Next Monday week I shall set off 
for Prince Edward to see Susan and to attend the com- 
mencement in the college. I there expect to meet with 
many old friends and acquaintances, and to enjoy a few 
days' more rest amidst the quiet shades of my venerable 
alma mater. You cannot imagine how much more I feel 
interested in Sister Anne Lacy's children since little Bess 
was born. I never loved children before ; now I notice all, 
and would be glad to have a romp with hers especially. 

In nineteen months from the date of this letter, her brief 
course was finished in faith and hope, while for him more 
than half a century of abounding work was in store. She 
died in Clarksville, Tenn., April 3, 1847, an d was borne to 
Gallatin, Tenn., and laid beside her mother. Later both were 
laid by the husband and father in Athens, Ohio. 



Early Ministry. 



85 



From the beginning of his ministry Mr. Hoge was fortu- 
nate in the elders that were associated with him in the 
counsels of the church. Of his first session he considered 
Air. John B. Martin one of the most thorough Bible scholars 
he had ever met, outside of those trained in theological 
schools. It was his custom while working at his art — he was 
a portrait-painter and wood-engraver — to keep a Bible open 
beside him. and to take up a verse at a time for meditation, 
turning it over in his mind, looking at what came before and 
after, assimilating it to his previous knowledge, and never 
leaving it until he had arrived at some interpretation that 
satisfied him. His four sons all became ministers of the 
gospel. Air. Michael Gretter, a brother of Dr. Gretter, 
long the honored pastor of the church in Greensboro, N. C., 
was a wise and godly counsellor ; his life, Dr. Hoge once 
said, "a living hymn of praise to God;" Mr. Guernsey A. 
Denison soon left Richmond, and years after took part — as 
clerk of the session — in Dr. Hoge's call to Memphis. Mr. 
Richard Sterling was teacher of a boys' classical school, 
and to his subsequent departure from the city Air. Hoge 
refers with great regret. 

It soon became apparent that the chapel in which the 
church began its life was hopelessly and ridiculously inad- 
equate; and with Mr. Hawes, then one of his deacons, he 
went North to secure plans for a church. Meanwhile the con- 
gregation filled seats, aisles and windows. The preaching of 
the young pastor attracted the attention of all classes in the 
community. Men of letters, like John R. Thompson, were 
attracted by the literary grace of his style; eminent legal 
minds, by the clearness and cogency of his reasoning; and 
all classes by the power of the gospel message, freshly 
presented to human needs, with a wealth of illustration 
and a power of human sympathy that found its way to the 
heart. 

From the first, while he did not neglect the discipline of 
the pen. he cultivated the art of extempore speech. By delib- 



86 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



erate judgment, or more probably by a combination of in- 
tuition with a process of natural selection, he settled upon the 
field he was best fitted to occupy — a preacher to the people. 
That settled, he made all else bend to it. He did not aspire 
to be a scientific biblical scholar, nor a profound and meta- 
physical theologian, nor an acute polemic, nor a skilled eccle- 
siastic. Whatever success he achieved in any of these direc- 
tions came to him incidentally. Had he sought success in 
any of these lines he could probably have achieved it. But 
he would not have been what he was. The results of the 
best biblical scholarship and of the profoundest theological- 
thought he eagerly acquired. But he left the processes to 
others. His task was to take the truth and make it attractive 
and beautiful, that he might win the hearts and guide the 
consciences of the people, by bringing them under its 
power. 

He first sought definiteness of thought. His creed was 
clear and his faith in it firm. It determined the bounds of 
his thinking and prevented the waste of his energies in 
vagaries and novelties. Any particular subject was thor- 
oughly thought out, and its principles clearly settled in his 
own mind. 

His next aim was fulness of matter. The kingdom of 
letters he loved for its own sake. The thought of great men 
struck an answering chord in his own soul. But he recog- 
nized in this field the richest source of the furnishing of ai 
man who would make the truth of God popular. Had he 
been only and distinctly a man of letters, his range of 
literary and historical knowledge could hardly have been 
greater. 

With his love of literature was associated an intense love 
of nature. The changes of the seasons, the succession of day 
and night, the phenomena of the heavens and of the atmos- 
phere; the beauties of landscape and sea; trees, flowers, 
birds ; all had their charms, and all were studied ; not scien- 
tifically, but aesthetically. With the moods of nature he had 



Early Ministry. 



87 



the greatest sympathy, and with the authors who had mas- 
tered her moods. 

Another important source of his culture was — what he 
constantly deplored as an interruption of his time — the con- 
stant demands upon him, of every sort, that made him, in 
spite of himself, a man of affairs. Vexatious, harassing, 
needless, as are so many of the calls made upon a city pas- 
tor's time, they bring to him, as nothing else can, that know- 
ledge which is hardly less essential to his work than his 
knowledge of God's word — the knowledge of the human 
heart, and the springs that control human action. He 
learned to know mankind by knowing men. He was a 
master of assemblies because he was a master of individuals. 
If his eloquence touched every chord of the human heart, 
it was because he knew the instrument upon which he 
played. In the best sense of the word, he was a man of 
the world. Like the Apostle Paul, he could adapt himself 
to all classes of men, and there was never any position in 
which he was placed that he was not master of it — and of 
himself. 

With all this there was another element that brought all 
this into play, and made it all bear upon his main end, his 
freshness of interest and observation. Whatever the subject 
— the word of God itself, history, literature, nature, or man 
— he observed it for himself and saw it with his own eyes. 
And he had eyes to see not only the surface, but the meaning 
of things, and their hidden relations. Underlying all other 
qualities and acquirements, it is hardly necessary to say — for 
it will speak for itself — was a profound and genuine spirit- 
uality, a devoted spiritual culture, and a humble sense of his 
dependence on God. 

In these statements we are not projecting the Dr. Hoge 
whom we knew in his meridian and evening back into 
the early morning of his ministry. A few extracts from 
letters of the time will illustrate and sustain every statement 
that has been made. 



88 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Writing to his younger brother about some pieces of his 
(May, 1845), ne says: 

Like most young writers, you attend more to phrase- 
ology than to the naked, simple thought. That is the main 
thing. If you wish to make an impression be sure to have 
a striking idea, and then express it strongly and in the 
simplest words. A century ago more was thought of a 
rounded period and a flowing style than at present ; now the 
world requires ideas tersely and concisely expressed. It is 
not so much how you say a thing, but what you have to say. 

By the way, I think Macaulay one of the worst writers 
to imitate, while he is beyond praise himself. There can 
only be one Johnson, one Dryden, one Shakespeare, one 
Milton, one Burns, one Carlyle, one Macaulay. An imi- 
tator is only a counterfeit dollar. Let each man strike out 
a course for himself. All genius cannot be run in the same 
moulds. 

Again he wrote, in a letter that is recalled, but now lost, 
that it was his custom in everything that impressed him in 
nature, in science, or in human life, whether an incident that 
came under his own observation, or one told in the public 
press, to ask himself, What spiritual truth can I illustrate 
by this ? 

It was probably at a somewhat later period that he began 
his "Index Rerum," but it was a development of habits 
already formed. In it is found, classified and alphabetically 
arranged, almost every conceivable topic of human interest 
bearing on religious life and religious themes. These topics 
were entered as they occurred to him, and in all his reading 
or thinking, when he came to anything bearing upon them, 
he jotted it down beneath the appropriate head. Thus there 
grew up under his hand a great thesaurus of subject and 
treatment and illustrations, always ready to his hand, but 
capable of endless variety in presentation. 

He frequently complains of how little he can accomplish 
on account of interruptions, but reveals at the same time the 
extent of his aims and the loftiness of his ideal. 



Early Ministry. 



89 



The following is to his brother (1848) : 

As to general improvement, I fear I am making but 
little progress. The longer I live here the more engage- 
ments multiply around me. I have so much business to 
transact for various boards, societies, etc., together with so 
many interruptions by calls from friends and strangers, 
that very little time is left for study. Much time has to be 
devoted to the preparation of pulpit exercises; so that I 
have scarcely any opportunity for the prosecution of those 
branches of knowledge which a minister should be well 
versed in. Even the general literature of the day has to 
be neglected. Sometimes an interesting number of a 
review lies on my table a month before I cut the leaves, or 
even make myself acquainted with the table of contents. 
Life is too short for much efficient action, together with 
the acquisition of profound and various learning. 



Sometimes, under the pressure of this idea, he became dis- 
couraged and restless. 

He wrote Dr. Plumer (June, 1848) : 

If I visit Baltimore this summer, I may confer with you 
about leaving Richmond, unless, indeed, I come to a de- 
cision before I see you. Not that I am tired of the place ; 
not that I have any reason to believe the people are tired 
of me, but perhaps that is the best state of feeling in which 
to separate. I have now been here four years, which it 
strikes me is long enough for a first settlement. The next 
time I might remain eight years or longer. But I cannot 
improve, cannot study — except in the way of direct pulpit 
preparation — if I lead this life. If I remain here I shall 
never be a better preacher than I am now, which is a dis- 
couraging anticipation. 

The spirit of prophecy was not on him that day ! 

A few more extracts will serve to sustain what has been 
•said, and show something of his thoughts at this period — 
the subjects that revolved in his mind — his ideas about art, 
nature, life and public affairs. 



go 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



To Dr. Plumer (1847) : 

For more than a year I have been desirous of preaching 
a sermon on the phrase, "The King of Glory," but the 
theme is so sublime I have been afraid to undertake it. 
I wish at some time you would suggest a plan of a dis- 
course, for I shall never be easy until I have preached a 
sermon upon it. Of course, a man can succeed better by 
following his own divisions, but you can give me the 
skeleton that you would use, or at least some valuable 
hints. 



To Mrs. Greenleaf (1846), about his church: 

I go in for a stone Gothic, rubble wall, crevices for moss^ 
and ivy ; holes where old Time may stick in his memorials ; 
cozy loop-holes of retreat, where the sparrow may find a 
house for herself (and husband) and the swallow a nest 
for her young. The congregation are coming into my 
views, though I have not yet imparted to them the details 
as touching the fowls of the air and the "ivy green." I am. 
tired of Grecian temples with spires on them — as out of 
place on that classic structure as a cockade would be in 
a parson's hat. p. The back of the pul- 

pit should run m° rep up on this wise; but 

in this I must J I consult the shade of 

John Calvin. I \ 

The Gothic style \ ft he secured ; and the 

pulpit back, but J\ j{ without the cross. 

The stone he had to / ^ forego, and after the 

advent of the Eng- lish sparrows to 

America, he was glad enough to be without the loop-holes. 

To Mrs. Greenleaf (1849), during the prevalence of 
cholera : 

July 3 d. What a delicious day ! There is all the luxury 
of the fall-feeling in it. The breeze is strong and cool. 
The face of nature wears a smile, in which I see something 
of sadness. My mind reverts to the past. I seem to be 
transported to former scenes and again to mingle with old 
companions 



Early Ministry. 



91 



July 6th. This singularly beautiful weather continues, 
and no change need be expected until half-past four o'clock 
Sunday afternoon. 1 By day the blue sky is of liquid soft- 
ness, by night the moon is as a burnished mirror. But 
these fresh, well-tempered breezes bring no glow to the 
wasted cheek. These clear, sparkling skies look down 
upon the sick and sorrowing, and Nature smiles around 
the tomb. 

To Doctor Plumer (1847), after a visit to the school for 
the blind in Staunton : 

I asked one of the blind girls if she felt the loss of sight 
to be a great deprivation. She answered that she did not. 
I asked her why it was that she did not deplore what was 
so generally regarded as a sore calamity. Her reply made 
my eyes run over, for it went right to my heart. She said, 
"I cannot deplore the want of sight, for I trust it has been 
the means of leading me to see Christ !" I brought it in in 
a sermon I preached the next night. Perhaps you have 
heard of the interesting meeting I held with the young 
people in Staunton 2 on Sabbath afternoon while the com- 
munion was administered in the church. The lecture- 
room was more than full, and there was a general indica- 
tion of deep emotion, which seemed to increase on Monday. 
One young lady made a profession of faith before I left,, 
and I learn there have been two others since. 

He is interested in all that is going on. To his aunt, Mrs. 
Horace Lacy, he writes (1845) : 

We have had very exciting times in Richmond during 
the last few weeks: the breaking up of the Legislature, 
the commencement of the Medical College, the temperance- 
lectures of the (justly) celebrated Mr. Gough, parades, 
the transit (gloria mundi) of Mr. Tyler, the arrival of Mr. 
Calhoun, who is now in the city. 

He wrote Dr. Plumer (1847) °f the following incident,, 
which, despite the stiltedness of youthful embarrassment,, 
shows his courage and conscientiousness : 



1 The hour of his service. 



2 During a meeting of synod. 



9 2 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



You saw of my being at the Webster dinner. It hap- 
pened in this wise. Just before the hour, McFarland came 
to me and told me a ticket and a seat had been provided 
for me, and very politely urged me to accept the invitation. 
I very respectfully declined, and he still urged it, with the 
request that I should ask a blessing before they sat down 
to the table. Just then Sidney Baxter, who can sniff up 
the least indiscretion in a minister, came and joined in the 
same request; so I consented, thinking — 

" What Cato did, and Addison approved, 
Must sure be right." 

Mr. Webster was then in the parlor, receiving introduc- 
tions to his guests. When I was introduced, a rather 
interesting incident occurred. Mr. Webster immediately 
commenced a serious conversation, and narrated several 
wonderful escapes of his from death — the last, you remem- 
ber, from the Atlantic. Now, said I to myself, Providence 
has thrown this opportunity in my way; I am a young 
minister, and this is a Senator, but I am a minister, and he 
a dying mortal, so I will improve the occasion. (You 
know I am never embarrassed when the pinch comes.) So 
I said very deliberately, "Mr. Webster, you cannot fail to 
be impressed with the special providence of God in your 
frequent preservation — perhaps you remember the striking 
sentiment of the Psalmist on this subject, 'Whoso is wise, 
and will observe these things, even he shall understand the 
loving kindness of the Lord/ " I saw instantly that Mr. 
Webster was pleased, and to this I attribute all the respect 
he paid me at dinner; I sat opposite. He pretended to 
know my family, asked after Uncle James' health, etc., 
said he meant to see him before he returned to Massa- 
chusetts, etc., etc. A minister never loses by fidelity. 

I am now set down for a Whig, anyhow ! And some 
Episcopalians have expressed hopes of my conversion! 

The last remark probably refers to an incident mentioned 
in the same letter : his preaching the funeral sermon of a 
son of the Hon. John Minor Botts in St. James' Episco- 
pal Church. The young man lost his life in the Mexican 
war, and Dr. Adam Empie, the rector, finding that it was 
the wish of the family, invited him to preach the sermon, 



Early Ministry. 



93 



then customary, at the funeral. He sent a friend to ascertain 
if any distinction would be made; and, rinding that the 
whole church would be open to him, he accepted. From that 
time he seems to have been regarded in Richmond as within 
the succession, officiating freely in Episcopal churches, at 
funerals, marriages, and other services. 

Of the effect of his preaching at this time, the following 
account of a sermon at the White Sulphur Springs (1847), 
written in the confidence of a husband to a wife, reveals his 
own feelings and what others thought and said: 

At night the room was crammed. All the elite of the 
place were present — the Singletons, Brookes, Lyons, Stan- 
ards, Bruces, Seddons, etc., etc. I preached from John 
vii. 37; used no MS., but spoke extempore. I never felt 
so much like preaching before, and never spoke with 
greater comfort to myself. The audience was as still as 

death, until a lady (Mrs. H that was, now divorced; 

you know who I mean) commenced weeping aloud, and 
there was so much emotion produced in the audience that 
I thought proper to glance off from the point I was then 
discussing to one not so exciting to the feelings. A gentle- 
man from Mobile told me this morning, 'It was one of the 
most considerate things he ever saw, for I had the pas- 
sions of my audience entirely under my command, and it 
would have been in bad taste to have taken advantage of 
the excitement.' Several gamblers were present. Just 
as I came out of the door, I heard one say that he had 
never heard such preaching in his life before. Mr. Lyons 
the next day paid me one of the greatest compliments I 
ever received. You know I do not tell you these things 
through vanity, though I am exceedingly gratified when- 
ever my preaching produces such an impression, but be- 
cause I am grateful to God when he makes me instrumental 
in commanding the attention and touching the heart of a 
large audience. I never prayed more fervently for divine 
aid, before preaching, than I did on Sunday night; and 
when I returned to my cabin, it was, I trust, with a heart 
overflowing with thankfulness, that God had heard my 
prayer, and blessed the discourse to the good of those who 
heard it. Young Mr. Smith told me yesterday, with tears 



94 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



in his eyes, that it was the first time in his life when he was 
sorry when a sermon ended. A great part of it was a 
plain, affectionate appeal to the impenitent. A seed may 
fall by these wayside places, which may bear fruit to the 
•glory of God. 

Mr. Clay arrived Sunday night. I am sorry that since 
he has made a profession of religion, he sets the example 
of travelling on Sunday. He told me yesterday morning 
he regretted he was too much fatigued to attend preaching 
the night before, having arrived late in the stage. He said 
he knew Grandfather Hoge, etc. He is very plain in his 
manners, and quite cheerful. He spends much of his time 
with the ladies. I had some conversation with him on 
religious topics. He speaks quite feelingly, and I hope he 
is a converted man. 

Mr. Lyons this evening, after tea, took me by the arm 
and said he wished to take me to his cabin and introduce 
me to the ladies. Mr. Clay was there, and had there been 
a good light in the room, the company might have seen me 
blush at a remark he made. He commenced talking again 
about my preaching, and said, "I was very sorry I was so 
tired as not to be able to get out on Sunday night at the 
time, but I regret it the more since I have heard from so 
many zvhat a sermon you preached/' I confess I never felt 
more foolish, but I immediately made a remark which 
changed the conversation. 

His personal power over men is illustrated by the way men 
looked to him instinctively as the one person who could have 
prevented one of the most distressing affairs that ever threw 
its shadow 7 over Richmond — the Ritchie-Pleasants duel. To 
a friend who had written to him for particulars, he first 
quotes an allusion he made to it in a sermon the following 
Sunday : 

Almost every succeeding week convinces the minister of 
reconciliation of the solemnity and urgency of these con- 
siderations — and O how does his soul faint and die within 
him as he sees one after another of those with whom he has 
reasoned and prayed and wept, and who have admitted the 
propriety of all, suddenly cut off and called to the last ac- 



Early Ministry, 



95 



count. But day before yesterday, returning home after a 
few weeks' absence, as the spires of our city fell upon my 
eye, all anticipations of pleasant meeting with family and 
friends were forgotten in the remembrance of one who 
heard his last sermon in this house, and bitter tears would 
gush forth as this text came forcibly to mind in its applica- 
tion to him, "Oh! that thou hadst known, even thou, the 
things that belonged to thy peace — but now" — 

He then proceeds with his account : 

I have visited the bereaved family since my return ; all 
their grief seemed to break forth anew as I entered the 
room. His sister clasped her hands and exclaimed, "O 
merciful God, Mr. Hoge, if you had been here, my brother 
had not died." And there sat his old grey-headed mother 
the picture of woe — smitten of God and afflicted. What 
comfort could I give them? Yet I tried. His mother 
remembered with great satisfaction that ever since his 
conversation with me he had regularly retired every day to 
read his Testament. He directed that it should be buried 
with him, and assured his mother that he was trying to fix 
his entire view upon the Saviour of sinners. He ex- 
pressed great anxiety to see me again — wished a friend to 
inform Ritchie that he pardoned him. With regard to the 
duel itself, he seemed to feel that he had discharged an 
imperative duty. He went to the field to offer himself a 
sacrifice, if necessary, to the sentiment that honor is dearer 
than life. The whole affair was extraordinary to the last 
degree. Pleasants determined not to kill Ritchie in any 
event, and it is supposed that he got up in the night and 
drew the balls from his pistols, which his seconds had 
loaded at eleven o'clock for the meeting, which was to 
take place at sunrise. This he declared before he died, and 
the proof is that he did fire one pistol directly in Ritchie's 
breast, which caused him to recoil, stunned and almost 
burned through the flesh. All wondered why he did not 
fall ; but the mystery was solved after the affray by finding 
a wad in his bosom. Pleasants had him perfectly in his 
power then, but chose to fire a blank cartridge. It was 
perfect self-immolation. 

Seldom has any event caused such gloom in a commu- 



9 6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



nity. His funeral took place on Sunday (the Sabbath after 
his death, I mean) in Mr. Stiles' church. One of Mr. 
Pleasants' sisters was a member of that church, hence the 
selection of Mr. Stiles. Thus was I saved a mournful 
duty. Several of the churches were closed on that day, 
and an immense procession followed the hearse to the 
burying-ground. 

Unusual regret was expressed in Richmond that I should 
have been absent. I cannot tell how many have made the 
same remark to me, "If you had been at home, the duel 
would not have taken place. No one else could have pre- 
vented it." Humanly speaking, this is true. I knew ex- 
actly how to touch Pleasants, and his affection for me 
made my influence over him very great. Susan tells me 
that I was written to by persons knowing that the prelimi- 
naries of the duel were under consideration, requesting me 
to interfere. 

But it is in vain now to say what would or could have 
been done. Providence saw fit that the whole event should 
occur just when and as it did. It is all over now — all irre- 
parable — and what is the conclusion of the whole matter? 
Honor is appeased; put that in one scale: and one of the 
most brilliant lights of Virginia has been quenched, a soul 
has been hurried into eternity, his slayer by this act has 
fastened the undying worm to his own heart, several fami- 
lies have been filled with bitter, hopeless lamentation, and 
a whole community has been made to mourn; put that in 
the other. 

In the early part of 1847 Dr. Plumer removed to Balti- 
more. Mr. Hoge was thus deprived of his "guide, philoso- 
pher and friend" — as he once termed him — and at the same 
time many new duties and responsibilities were thrown upon 
him. As the only (Old School) Presbyterian minister in the 
city, he was naturally brought into greater prominence, and 
that position of leadership was ever afterwards accorded to 
him. The very spring after Dr. Plumer' s removal the Gene- 
ral Assembly, then embracing the whole country, was to 
meet in the First Church, and the whole responsibility fell 
upon Mr. Hoge. He wrote his brother (April, 1847) : 



Early Ministry. 



97 



Since Dr. Plumer removed to Baltimore, I have been 
the only Old School minister in Richmond, and have, in 
consequence, been much engrossed by pastoral and other 
duties. Besides my regular engagements, I am on the 
building committee of our new church, and teach two 
Bible classes. Added to all, I have been quite unwell for 
two or three weeks, though not sick enough to be laid up. 
I was, indeed, confined to my room one week; but as I 
lay on my sofa, I composed a sermon, and when Sabbath 
came, I procured a carriage, rode to church, preached and 
came back to bed again. 

We are looking forward with much interest to the meet- 
ing of the General Assembly, which convenes in Richmond 
in May. If you could break off from your present engage- 
ments and come to Virginia, it would be your best oppor- 
tunity for making a visit. Cousin Moses Andrew is 
coming, with his wife, and Uncle James also — at least, such 
was his expectation when I saw him last fall. There will 
be a tremendous concourse here on that occasion. Even 
an ordinary ecclesiastical meeting attracts much attention 
and many visitors in Virginia; but a General Assembly 
will turn the whole State topsy-turvey. Uncle Drury Lacy 
writes me that he is coming, as well as several other rela- 
tives and old friends. I fear, however, that I shall not 
enjoy the meeting a great deal, for it will be a time of 
incessant labor and anxiety to me. The First Church, in 
which the Assembly will meet, has no pastor, and the 
greater part of the work, such as making arrangements for 
preaching, seeing to the accommodations of the delegates, 
etc., will be devolved upon me ; this will so absorb my time 
as to leave very little opportunity for social enjoyment. 

About the same time he wrote Dr. Plumer with regard to the 
First Church : 

The session have treated me with a delicate regard, of 
which I am gratefully sensible. They seem anxious to 
select a man who will be agreeable to me, and who would 
probably work with me in good-will and harmony. 

The choice fell on the Rev. Thomas Verner Moore, with 
whom Mr. Hoge was most favorably impressed from the 



9 8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



first, and with whom there grew up a delightful intimacy 
and life-long friendship. It would have been difficult to find 
two ministers working in more perfect harmony, or with 
more mutual affection and admiration. 

Mr. Hoge was full of plans for the development and 
building up of the Presbyterian cause. He once wrote 
Dr. Plumer that he thought it better to fail in a good 
many things than to work in old ruts and attempt nothing. 
He was early impressed with the need of church schools. 
Writing to Dr. Plumer of Mr. Sterling's departure, he 
said : 

By this move I shall lose an excellent and efficient elder, 
and always ready to come into my views of things and 
aid me in all my plans. After January ist, we will have 
no Presbyterian school for boys in Richmond. So far as I 
have been able to enlighten myself on the subject of pa- 
rochial schools, I approve of the system, and I have 
thought this would be a good time to break ground on the 
subject here. 

This enterprise he prosecuted vigorously and successfully, 
and a classical school was for some time maintained under 
his general oversight. But other events were working out 
to bring him more actively into educational work. Early 
in 1848 he wrote his brother: 

At present I am occupying a field of difficulty and re- 
sponsibility. To build up a new church in a city is an 
arduous undertaking, one requiring self-denial, energy and 
much patience — qualities in which I am sadly deficient. 
Providence has, however, thus far smiled on my labors, 
and by another year I expect to see my church the leading 
Presbyterian church in the city, in point of standing, in- 
fluence, and enterprise. The new edifice, now nearly 
completed, will be the most beautiful structure of the kind 
in the State. It is a pure specimen of severe Gothic arch- 
itecture within and without, and has been pronounced by 
good judges to be as faultless a model of the order as 




SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA. 



Early Ministry. 



99 



the country contains. It was a great undertaking for a 
congregation so new and so small to erect such a build- 
ing, but I hope our liabilities will all be met as they be- 
come due, so that in a reasonable time we may be free from 
debt. 

But, as so often happens with a new enterprise under a 
young and popular minister, the financial strength of the 
congregation did not keep pace with the growth of the audi- 
ence and the demand for increased seating capacity. The 
church was built, but it was burdened with a debt beyond 
the strength of the congregation. They had not built ex- 
travagantly, but to meet the reasonable expectations of 
the future. But it was more than they could stand. It 
is difficult for large and flourishing churches to meet 
their regular expenses; how, then, can young churches, 
struggling into existence, be expected to do this and provide 
buildings adequate for their future needs at the same time? 
It is one of the most serious problems of church extension. 
The little band struggled earnestly with their problem, but 
business failures and removals increased their difficulties, 
and at last they had to confess failure. At a meeting of the 
officers and others interested, the problem was canvassed in 
every phase, and the conclusion was reached that the church 
must be sold. But there was one factor with which they had 
not fully reckoned — their leader. It was in this crisis that he 
displayed the stuff that heroes are made of, the power to rise 
to a crisis and master it. When all had expressed them- 
selves, he quietly informed them that the church would not 
be sold ; that his salary would be applied to the payment of 
the debt, and he would support himself by teaching, as long 
as was necessary. 

His opportunity came shortly afterwards. He had 
written Dr. Plumer of his intentions about his salary, and 
(July 29, 1848,) writes him of the working out of his 
scheme : 



oo 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



I welcomed your letter this evening, not only on account 
of hearing from you again, but because you were the first 
friend at a distance to approve of my scheme, and to wish 
me success. 

As soon as I heard of Mrs. Carrington's determination 
to leave Richmond, I saw that there was no time to lose, or 
the game would pass (and, perhaps, for years) out of our 
hands. And not being able to think of any one who would 
make a suitable successor, I concluded to undertake the 
matter myself. 

I came to this resolution without consulting a single 
human being. I mentioned my intention to several friends 
one day, and wrote my advertisement the next. The first 
intimation my church had of the affair was from the news- 
papers. One thing has encouraged me much, the universal 
favor with which it seems to be received. All seem con- 
fident that I shall have a large school. I thought it 
probable that some members of my church would object to 
my undertaking such an additional charge. I did not 
intend to change my course if they should object; but I 
am pleased to find that my whole congregation, so far as 
I can learn, are heartily in favor of it. 

Doctor, I have one fortune — may God long continue it 
to me; I am rich in the possession of one of the best of 
wives. How few men could have taken such a step as I 
have done — one so much involving the happiness of a 
wife — while she was absent, and without even consulting 
her by letter. There was no time for this, and Susan saw 
my advertisement, perhaps, the same day that she read my 
letter informing her that she was to leave her pleasant 
rooms and easy life at the Exchange for the anxieties and 
labors of a large boarding school. I calculated on her 
consent. I knew she would not say a word in objection, 
but I confess I was not prepared for such a letter as she 
wrote me. You are no Mr. Wet-Eyes, but you could not 
read her letter without being at the expense of a tear or 
so. She says not a word about her own cares and respon- 
sibilities, but, woman-like, and good-wife-like, is very 
anxious lest I may have undertaken too* much for my 
strength ; assures me that her conscious want of qualifica- 
tion to be a pastor's wife has been her only source of dis- 
quiet and discouragement since our marriage; but now 



Early Ministry. 



ioi 



she is thankful that providence has opened a door of use- 
fulness even to her, and that perhaps her unremitting 
exertions may enable her to be of some use to me, and to 
others, and give me less cause for regret that I have mar- 
ried one so unqualified for a position like hers ! 

Susan has a fine turn for business ; she is an excellent 
accountant (inherited), and an admirable housekeeper. 

I now see the use that may be made of these qualities 
which I have given her no opportunity to display before. A 
prudent wife is from the Lord. I shall entrust all such mat- 
ters to her, or make her secretary of the treasury at least. 

Such was the origin of what became for many years one 
of the great institutions of Richmond — continued long after 
the immediate object had been achieved, because of its great 
value to the church and the cause of Christian education. 

The school was located in a large frame building occupy- 
ing the centre of a large lot on the southwest corner of Fifth 
and Franklin street, now occupied by five handsome resi- 
dences. This became his home until he moved to the house 
adjoining his church. 

The church was dedicated in the early part of 1848, 
Dr. Plumer preaching the dedication sermon, in fulfil- 
ment of Mr. Hoge's cherished desire, and his friend, John 
R. Thompson, contributing the following hymn, which was 
first sung on this occasion : 

Dedication Hymn. 

Lord ! thou hast said where two or three 
Together come to worship thee, 
Thy presence, fraught with richest grace, 
Shall ever fill and bless the place. 

Then let us feel, as here we raise 
A temple to thy matchless praise, 
The blest assurance of thy love 
As it is felt in realms above. 

Lord ! here upon thy sacred day 
Teach us devoutly how to pray; 
Our weakness let thy strength supply, 
Nor to our darkness light deny. 



102 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Here teach our faltering tongues to sing 
The glories of the Heavenly King, 
And let our aspirations rise 
To seek the Saviour in the skies. 

And when at last, in life's decline, 
This earthly temple we resign, 
May we, O Lord, enjoy with thee 
The Sabbaths of eternity ! 



■ 



CHAPTER VI. 



In Full Service. 
1851 — 1860. 

"Get leave to work 
In this world ; 'tis the best you get at all ; 
For God, in cursing, gives us better gifts 
Than man in benediction. God says, 1 Sweat, 
For foreheads' ; men say, ' Crowns' ; and so we are crowned ; 
Aye, gashed by some tormenting circle of steel 
Which snaps with a secret spring. Get work ! Get work." 

•^nJL-^sa^?- Browning. 

IN the scholastic year of i850-'5i, the Rev. William 
H. Ruffner, then chaplain of the University of Virginia, 
inaugurated a course of lectures before the students of that 
institution, on the Evidences of Christianity, which were 
afterwards published in a handsome octavo volume. The 
lecturers were all selected from the Presbyterian Church, as 
the chaplaincy is held in rotation by the different religious 
denominations, giving others the opportunity to follow a 
like course in their turn. The list of lecturers includes the 
foremost men from all parts of the church: William S. 
Plumer, then of Baltimore, who delivered the opening lec- 
ture; Alexander M'Gill, of Alleghany; James W. Alexan- 
der, of New York; Robert J. Breckinridge, and Stuart 
Robinson, of Kentucky ; N. L. Rice, of Cincinnati ; all men 
who had achieved national reputation in the church. With 
them were a number of the more prominent ministers of 
Virginia — men like Dr. Sampson, of Union Seminary ; Dr. 
B. M. Smith, his predecessor and successor in the Seminary, 
but then of Staunton ; Dr. Green, the President of Hampden- 
Sidney College ; Dr. Henry Ruffner, of Washington College, 
and others. With this group of older men are found three of 
the younger men of the Synod: Van Zandt, of Peters- 
burg, and Moore and Hoge, of Richmond ; the last probably 



104 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the youngest of all. His name seems natural in such com- 
pany now, but then he was less than thirty-three years of 
age, and he had just completed the sixth year of his ministry. 
It marks his entrance into full service, among men of recog- 
nized standing in the church. 

The lecture was on a subject well suited to him : The Suc- 
cess of Christianity an Evidence of its Divine Origin ; bring- 
ing into play his fine mastery of history. It was delivered in 
two parts, the evening lecture having especial relation to 
Gibbon's "Second Causes." One remarkable feature of the 
lecture — partly growing out of the subject, but more out of 
his ability to seize the permanent element in things — is that, 
while many of the lectures in the course are so entirely out 
of date as to be useless now, this lecture would be as profit- 
able now as the day it was delivered. A high authority has 
recently said of it that "in the whole realm of apologetic lit- 
erature there is not a more polished or powerful demonstra- 
tion of Christianity." 

It will be interesting, therefore, to read his own humorous 
account (to Dr. Plumer) of the extraordinary disadvan- 
tages under which it was delivered. Perhaps "some forlorn 
and shipwrecked brother," suffering under similar trials, 
"seeing, may take heart again " : 

This week's Watchman will give you Ruffner's impres- 
sions of the lecture of the course ! But it does not contain 
any account of the strange scenes which preceded its de- 
livery. You may remember that last Sunday was a very 
warm day. Well, the sexton, having peculiar notions with 
regard to temperature — I mean peculiar to all the colored 
brethren, that when the weather is warm a tremendous 
fire is necessary — shut all the doors and windows of the 
chapel and made the stove red-hot. The consequence was 
that as soon as the audience crowded in, some of the ladies 
became faint. One leaned up against the wall, white as 
the wall itself, and had to be carried out. This made a 
sensation. Then such an opening of windows and shutters 
and doors never was seen. Professor Minor took a pitcher 



In Full Service. 



105 



of water and tried to put out the fire, causing a sweet smell 
and a most agreeable hissing. 

Quiet being restored, as the choir was performing, the 
string, or something, about the melodeon snapped and 
threw all the singers out. The hymn being ended, during 
the first prayer one of the students uttered a most dismal 
and fearful groan, that still rings in my ears, and fell back 
in a fit. This, of course, suspended all the exercises. Five 
or six of the students took him up and carried him out to 
see what was the matter, followed by all the doctors. The 
"best thing I could do was to give out a long hymn. While 
they were singing it the outsiders began to return, and by 
the time it was ended, all had returned, the alarm having 
subsided when it was known that the young man was sub- 
ject to such attacks. I thought it would be impossible to 
^engage the attention of the audience after such distracting 
scenes ; but, strange to say, perfect quiet and the very best 
attention prevailed as soon as the lecture commenced, and 
nothing occurred to interrupt it during its delivery, which 
occupied just an hour. At night there was a real jam. 
"Extra benches were brought in and filled, and then chairs 
were set wherever there was a vacant spot; I suppose 
fifty could not squeeze in, and stood at the windows out- 
side. Many of the Charlottesville people were there, and 
this was the cause of the exclusion of so many of the 
students. Ruffner is mistaken about the "nail in a sure 
place." The lecture was heard with evident emotion, but 
it will not read well, and I am sorry that it must be 
printed. It will go down to posterity because of the com- 
pany it will be in, and not because of any intrinsic merits, 
and thus it will be preserved, like a fly in amber. 

In this connection, the following is too good to be lost : 

Petersburg, Va., October 6, 1851. 
My Dear Fellow : You know I gave you to understand 
some time since that it was a hazardous experiment for 
you to suffer your lecture to be printed in the same volume 
with mine. That presumption, however, I could forgive, 
as the venial sin of a youthful authorship. Indeed, I 
rather admired the daring with which a man of your size 
swaggered, as if at home among the rest of us giants, and 
-so long as the fond dream of your equality was confined to 



o6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



your intellectual stature, I was little disposed to break trie- 
hallucination. But when, from Ruffner's twaddle about 
your "impressive face," you began to think that in personal 
appearance you were also likely to cut a figure, you know 
I warned you on the steamboat against any such delusion.. 

" O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
To see oursel's as others see us." 

The invocation is answered, and here you are ! Did ever 
man behold the like ? And this is to go forth to the world 
as the likeness of my friend Hoge? Shades of darkness!, 
why did ye not cover it all, and not leave even the tip of a 
nose, or the sign of a shirt collar to indicate the resem- 
blance ? Couldn't you bribe the engraver to make you look: 
somewhat respectable ? My dear fellow, consider the com- 
pany you are in, and for the sake of your friends and 
family do try to look like a Christian. I grant you, it is 
a "striking face," but then I should say it was rather in 
the passive voice, a face that had been struck. Your right 
eye seems to be looking up, as if to penetrate the shades of 
that overarching brow, whilst the left is equally intent 
upon exploring the darkness of the regions below. There- 
is rather a pleasing hiatus in your features between the- 
nose and upper lip, which leaves room for the imagination 
to fancy an imperial, but then your head, "disjecta mem- 
bra," is divided from your neck by a girdle of cimmerian 
darkness, bounded on its nethermost extremity by the 
dubious lines of a shirt collar. But I forbear. 

Pray comfort your wife with the consideration that it is 
so like you. Dr. Plumer recognized it in a moment, and 
begged hard that I would give it to him, but I wouldn't;, 
no, not I ! And then he laughed — how he did laugh ; I 
don't know but he is laughing yet — and I am so much dis- 
posed to laugh myself I really can't write any more. 

Yours in tears of cachinnatory sympathy, 

A. B. Van Zandt. 

P. S. — My dear Hoge, pardon me for showing the 
within to Plumer, I couldn't resist; and lest you should 
proclaim war against Carter, let me say that this is the 
proof impression of the unfinished plate which I picked up* 
at the engravers, and it bears no resemblance to the sub- 
sequent impressions. Hope to see you at presbytery. 

Truly yours, A. B. Van Z. 



In Full Service. 



The proof in question is still extant, and confirms to the 
mind of one of Dr. Hoge's children the story of the pirate 
ancestor of the Lacys. The engraving as it appeared 
in the volume was a respectable likeness, but represents a 
much older looking man than Dr. Hoge appeared many 
years after. This is partly due to the old-fashioned style of 
the beard, but yet more to the increased vitality of his later 
years. 

The story of this decade can best be told in the letters of 
the time, that may, in the main, be allowed to speak for 
themselves. The first belongs to the previous year, but is in- 
troductory to the events of this period. 

To Dr. Plumer (March 21, 1850) : 

During the present month I have been trying to find 
some one suitable to assist me in my school. I do not com- 
plain, nor do I encourage others to condole with or pity 
me ; but the fact is, Doctor, this double work is killing me. 
I am faithful and laborious both in my school and in prep- 
aration for the pulpit. I have a growing estimate of what 
a sermon should be, and am more and more unwilling to 
enter the pulpit with imperfect preparation. I cannot con- 
sent to fall below what I am capable of doing, and that is 
putting the standard low enough. But to make three ser- 
mons a week, even such sermons as I preach, and to teach 
six hours a day, is more than I can stand. But while I am 
at the head of the school, I cannot keep out of it, and leave 
the work to my assistants. Hence my desire to find some 
one capable of taking charge of the entire establishment. I 
have got the thing fairly in motion. It has been the largest 
school in the city ever since I commenced, and now it may 
be safely turned over to any popular and competent man, 
and to such a man it will furnish a handsome revenue. 
But I cannot find him. I am willing to take a class in the 
school, say for an hour a day, if my connection with it will 
be of any advantage, as I think it will. I wish I could sell 
out during my next vacation. I do not know of another 
opening so desirable in Virginia for a teacher who wishes 
to establish himself permanently and comfortably. Do 
you know of any one who would suit and be suited here? 



io8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



If you do, please inform me that I may open a correspond- 
ence at once. 

The course of lectures to young men, about which I 
wrote you, is succeeding. The church is now nearly as full 
when a lecture is delivered as it was at the dedication. 
Extra benches have to be brought in and placed in the 
aisles. Van Zandt delivered a splendid discourse on "The 
Evils of a Perverted Imagination." How much I wish 
you could be with us one Sabbath, especially that you would 
come and deliver a discourse on "Decision of Character." 
That would be the theme for you to handle, and you know 
how much our young men need instruction on that subject. 
The majority of the young men in Richmond seem to have 
no aim in life ; they do nothing, aspire to nothing. They 
saunter about in the most miserable vacuity, and actually 
seem too lazy to serve the devil with any briskness or 
spirit. I never bore anybody with entreaties, and will not 
importune you ; yet I cannot help hoping that you will yet 
send me a consent to come during the next six weeks. 

No satisfactory arrangement was made for the school that 
year, but the following year events were so providentially 
ordered that a most delightful relief came to him. 

His brother William had been led by strange ways into 
the ministry of the gospel. In 1847, while teaching in Gal- 
latin, Tenn., he had married the lovely young daughter of 
Mr. John P. Ballard, of Athens. He had returned to Athens 
to occupy the chair in the University formerly rilled by his 
father. His marriage had been blessed with two children, 
Elizabeth Lacy and Addison — the latter the namesake of his 
wife's brother, Dr. Addison Ballard, now of the New 
York University. In the bloom of her youth she had been 
-called to the presence of the Saviour she loved and trusted, 
on January 16, 1850. A month later her husband made the 
following record : "This bereavement brought me, through 
grace, to preach the gospel. I preached my first sermon, by 
the direction of Cousin Moses A. Hoge, my pastor, at Mill- 
field, nine miles from Athens." He was licensed to preach 
b>y the Presbytery of Hocking, September 11, 1850, and or- 



In Full Service. 



dained at Millfield, a little church whose pastorate he ac- 
cepted in connection with his professorship, April 29, 185 1. 
The following summer his brother wrote to Dr. Plumer 
(July 25, 1851): 

It will be eight years next October since I came to Rich- 
mond. 1 They have been eight years of happiness to me. 
I wish I could add, eight years of usefulness. It is my 
fault that they have not been useful. For the happiness I 
am indebted to you. Nothing but your partiality and kind- 
ness (which I could never account for) brought me to 
Richmond. I shall never cease to be grateful to you for 
taking me by the hand as you did, on leaving the Seminary, 
a green, wayward, and, as I now know, unpromising 
youth, and for bringing me to a place where I have found 
so many friends, and enjoyed so many years of personal 
and domestic comfort. I esteem it one of the greatest 
blessings of my life that the first years of my ministry were 
spent under your influence, and I often feel ashamed that 
while you were in Richmond and since your removal, I 
have made so poor a return for your kindness to me. I 
still hope it may be in my power to render you, or yours, 
some service, though I now know of no way in which I 
can be useful to you. The past year has been the most 
prosperous, so far as my church and school are concerned. 
During the winter, I had over a hundred pupils, and now, 
in this warm weather, more than seventy-five in attend- 
ance. Mr. L 's engagement with me will expire at the 

close of the present session, but I have induced my brother 
William to resign his professorship in the Ohio University 
for the sake of aiding me in my school next year. I may 
not be able to keep him long, nor do I desire to do so, as I 
am told he bids fair to take a high stand as a preacher. I 
received a letter from Mr. Van Zandt yesterday with 
regard to his undertaking the High Street Church, in 
Petersburg. Should he not be taken from me, I anticipate 
much advantage in having him with me next year, as he is 
said to be a capital teacher, and a man of lovely spirit. He 
will be here in August. 

You have heard of the death of Mrs. Robert Brooke. 



1 From the time of his first visit. 



no Moses Drury Hoge. 

She was, to my taste, a lady of the most agreeable man- 
ners ; so self-possessed under all circumstances, with, so 
much tact, and such a nice sense of propriety. Her piety, 
always of a high order, rapidly matured during the last 
months of her life. For weeks previous to her departure, 
she seemed "quite on the verge of heaven." There was a 
very unusual and affecting occurrence at her funeral, 
which took place from the First Church. Mr. Moore 
asked me to open the services, and to read a chapter of his 
selection, which I did. When I concluded he rose to take 
his text, but suddenly became overpowered with emotion, 
closed the Bible and sat down. He could not regain his 
composure. A large assembly was waiting, and at his 
request, I preached the sermon, although I had not one 
moment for premeditation. I was not embarrassed, how- 
ever, by the unexpected call, for such an emergency always 
steadies and animates me. I selected a text from the chap- 
ter I read, and, by a most extraordinary coincidence, I took 
the very text (as I afterwards learned) from which he had 
designed to preach. 

Who will make a good professor in Dr. Graham's place 
in Union Seminary? I am one of the electors, and feel 
much interested in it. 

In August Mr. Hoge went with Mrs. Hoge to Baltimore 
to meet his brother and his children. He wrote Dr. Plumer 
from Norfolk : 

Last night I broke my good rule of retiring early. The 
weather was pleasant, and William and I had the longest 
sort of a talk as we paced the upper deck, reviewing the 
various incidents in our lives since we parted. He seems 
to be a noble-hearted fellow, generous, unselfish, full of 
sympathy, and with elevated aims. It gives me great 
pleasure to see a brother bringing so much bodily and 
mental strength into the service of the Lord — energy 
united with deep-toned piety. 

A little later, when he thought some effort was on foot to 
move his brother away, he sums up the advantages of the 
existing arrangement : 



In Full Service. 



hi 



(i) The importance of sustaining the school and his 
brother's success in it. "He is the best teacher I ever saw, 
and all his classes respect and love him." (2) The abun- 
dance of work there was for both. (3) The career of 
prosperity now open to the church, when, after persevering 
and painful efforts, arrangements had been made for the 
payment of the entire church debt. (4) The advantage 
to his brother of having a home for his little ones where he 
could be with them. (5) "William is my only brother, 
from whom I have been separated since he was a child. 
We are happy in being together, especially in being asso- 
ciated as we are in the church. I do not admire the co- 
pastor system. 1 I would not be thus united with any one 
but a brother, nor with a brother unless he were such as 
William. But we can always work together in love and 
harmony. 

"The present state of things seems all to have been or- 
dered by a kind providence. It has all been brought about 
very gradually. No one had any idea of calling Brother 
William when he first came. By degrees the idea grew 
upon the people, until with unanimous voice they elected 
him, that I might have more time to study and visit with- 
out giving up my school, and that they might hear him 
preach and have his pastoral attention, both of which they 
prize. Let all this alone." 

The relation was indeed a happy one; happy in the re- 
discovery the brothers made of each other; happy in the 
mutual love that sprang forth afresh and that grew until 
death separated them; happy in the fellowship of service 
they enjoyed ; happiest of all in the outpouring of the divine 
blessing upon their labors. William Hoge thus tells the 
story in a letter to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Julia P. Ballard : 

Richmond, Va., December 2, 185 1. 
My Dear Julia : I have a message to gladden any pious 
heart, but I want to send it where the thrill will be richest. 
I have hesitated some time between Aunt Sallie and your- 
self, but your beaming face rising before me has decided 
me. 

1 He changed his views on this in later life. 



112 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



The windows of heaven are open, and a blessing of grace 
descending. Our house particularly is blessed. It is a 
place of weeping. Every girl, I think, is moved. Some 
are in bitterness. Some have had their mourning turned 
into joy. At least four of our boarders trust they have 
found true peace in believing. For some weeks past two 
or three have been tenderly impressed. On last Friday 
night I was engaged to assist Mr. Moore of the First 
Church, at his meeting preparatory to the sacrament. I 
preached " The Lord's Hand is not Shortened," etc. 
Nearly all of our girls attended; some were awakened. 
Saturday night I preached again, "The Ten Lepers." All 
went. On Sabbath I had to preach twice in our own 
church, Brother being absent at Norfolk to install a pastor. 
I gave them just what you heard once when you went with 
me to Millfield. In the morning, "Why Will Ye Die?" 
In the afternoon, "The Lord taketh pleasure in those 
that hope in his mercy." The audiences were large and 
much affected. Then came the hardest part of my day's 
work. Eight girls came to my study, one after another, 
for counsel and prayer, and while conversing or praying 
with one, the cries and prayers of others reached my ears. 
On Monday I felt strong and fresh again. In school, 
while hearing the Bible class, the plainest and simplest 
words seemed to go to the heart. The Spirit was there, 
and many were in tears. After school at four o'clock, be- 
tween sixty and seventy assembled at a prayer-meeting at 
our house. Others were melted, and my cousin, Lizzie 
Hoge, was filled with joy. I sent her quickly off to my 
study that she might give her first hours to God, that her 
opened eyes might see only him who had opened them. At 
night I preached " The Prodigal Son." Weeping eyes- 
were turned towards me, and at the close another was re- 
joicing in hope. And now, as I write in school, in a mo- 
ment snatched from other duties, I see one and another 
turning from their books and burying their faces in their 
hands to hide their tears and suppress the rising sob. In- 
quiry meeting this afternoon. I preach to-night. Then 
Brother will be here, and the labor will be divided. But 
I am not tired. I have preached very calmly; quietly 
talked much of the time. But I must close; I know you 
are glad ; I know you will pray for us — for me. Dearest 
love to all. Sincerely, W. J. Hoge. 



In Full Service. 113 

P. S. — There is preaching, too, every night in Mr. 
Moore's church, and much interest there. 

Just after I came here, we took a trip as far as Danville 
(near the borders of Carolina). Brother and myself con- 
ducted a communion meeting, and had to come away at 
once. But from that day the blessed work commenced, 
and I learn that some seventy made profession. 

A few days later Moses Hoge writes of the same events to 
Dr. Plumer : 

You have heard of the delightful season we are enjoying. 
The interest commenced among my boarders, then ex- 
tended into the school, then into the congregation. Two 
sermons which Brother William preached for Mr. Moore 
previous to his communion were much blessed to the young 
people, who went down with him from my house, as well 
as to some of Mr. Moore's congregation. We have preach- 
ing in the lecture-room of each church every night. To- 
night Brother William preached for Mr. Moore, and I 
preached to my people. Oh ! could my mother have only 
seen her two sons in the pulpit. Could she be in Rich- 
mond to-night, and know that both were preaching to 
solemn audiences, at the same hour — how she would re- 
joice. But if it would add to her joy in heaven, she does 
know it. About twelve have professed a hope, in my con- 
gregation, and some fifteen are now inquiring the way of 
life. I trust it is but the beginning of what we shall see. 
The first notes of praise from the lips of new converts give 
us here upon earth some preludes of heaven. 

The blessed fruits of this revival are found to this day. It 
has been a common experience to the children of those who 
were associated in this work to meet godly women full of all 
the sweet graces of the Spirit and abounding in love and 
good works, who trace to this time the beginning of their 
Christian life. 

But the relation could not continue. William Hoge had 
come into the ministry through too deep experiences to give 
so much of his time to the school-room. He accepted a call 
to the new Westminster Church in Baltimore, where he 



H4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



began his ministry July i, 1852, and Moses Hoge turned 
over the principal care of his school to others. 

That fall he was elected Moderator of the Synod of Vir- 
ginia — esteemed in Virginia an honor only second to the 
moderatorship of the General Assembly. He wrote Mrs. 
Hoge (Winchester, October 22, 1852) : 

I think I was never so tardy in writing to you before, but 
it has happened on this wise. Immediately on my arrival 
here, I was elected Moderator. So that I had to be in my 
place early, and late, and all day. This thing of pinning 
a man down to the Moderator's chair is not exactly the 
thing to give him rest and recreation ; but you know the 
honor of being Moderator of the Synod of Virginia makes 
the yoke easy, the burden light. The order of every day 
is to first hurry through breakfast, then hurry to Synod, 
then hurry through morning business, then hurry through 
dinner, then back to Synod, then a rush for supper, then 
preaching, then Synod after preaching, then a rush to bed, 
and so the time has gone ; and this is the first time I have 
had a pen in my hand since I came to Winchester. 

Mr. Hoge's immense capacity for work has always been 
a mystery to his friends, especially as he never had much 
system about it. In semi-humorous vein he sums up his 
occupations in a letter to Dr. Drury Lacy : 

Richmond, Va., December 3, 1853. 
My Dear Uncle : I have got used to being "a wonder 
unto many," as to how I get through with my multifarious 
duties, and I have often been asked to communicate the 
secret. I preach three times a week and attend one prayer- 
meeting, besides those constantly occurring calls for ad- 
dresses before societies of one sort and another. I teach 
school, run a team on the street, write occasionally for the 
papers, North and South; I entertain a great deal of 
company, receive any number of visits from country ac- 
quaintances and strangers ; carry on as extensive a cor- 
respondence, perhaps, as any minister in the State; am 
general commission merchant for friends living out of 
town, and, until lately, have officiated as negro-hirer and 



In Full Service. 



ii5 



collector, and yet I am generally at anybody's service who 
wants me to visit the sick, take a walk, ride or go fishing. 
I read some poetry, and now and then a novel, and visit 
(they say) as much as any pastor in Richmond, but I 
don't know how I manage it. Perhaps the best explanation 
is that I attempt many things and do nothing well — that I 
am jQannes omnium artium, magister nullius. 

After all, the reason why some men accomplish more 
than others is to be found in the different force of that 
faculty denominated the will. A resolute, unconquerable 
will can cause even a feeble physical frame to undergo 
toils, and perform wonders of endurance and action; but 
when a will which ignores such a word as impossible is 
combined with a vigorous physique, then I will not set any 
limits to what the proprietor of this happy combination of 
powers can effect. 

I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear 
them now, should they be written in such a miserable hand, 
and I have no time this morning to add more. Venit hora, 
absque mora. Most truly yours, M. D. Hoge. 

From his youth it had been Mr. Hoge's ardent desire to 
travel abroad. But the financial straits of his church, and 
the consequent res angustae domi, had made it impracti- 
cable. But in the spring of 1854, through the kindness of 
his good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, he was invited to go 
abroad with them as their escort. We will not follow him 
over ground now so familiar, but one letter from London 
will suffice to show the eyes he took with him, and his delight 
in all he saw. He wrote Mrs. Greenleaf (July 31, 1854) : 

My Dear Sister : Would you not have been pleased to 
see me drive from the railway station to Morley's Hotel, 
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, eat an immense dinner 
at nine thirty o'clock to-night, then light a cigar, and 
plunge into the Strand and wander on, in a sort of dreamy 
rapture, until I passed Temple Bar, and then on and on, 
until I stood spell-bound beneath the awful shadows of 
St. Paul's? 

Oh ! I am happy to-night ; the dream of my youth, the 
ardent wish of my riper years — alas! that I should have 



6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



to say riper years: I want youth, youth forever — is now 
a reality. I look down from the window where I write 
upon a thousand flashing lights and rushing vehicles, and 
late as it is, these lights and this roar which smites my ear, 
all assure me that I am indeed in vast, heaving, tumultu- 
ous, interminable London. . . . 

The ocean passage was charming. I never saw such a 
proportion of agreeable people in the same number, and 
yet among the passengers all, nearly all, nations were 
represented. Captain Nye said it was his most pleasant 
passage. 

Of course, it did nothing but rain in Liverpool, and I 
saw but little of it, but what a sweet visit did I make to 
quaint, quiet, venerable Chester; and then the walks and 
drives and visits to old ruins I had in Wales ; and then 
the fun I had in Ireland, the gratification I had in break- 
fasting with Dr. Cooke, the sorrow that I did not find 
McCosh in Belfast ; and then the glorious morning sail up 
the Clyde to Glasgow, the visit to Bothwell Bridge and 
Hamilton Palace, the excursion to the Highlands, my walk 
through Rob Roy's country, my night ride on horseback 
through the Trossachs; my visit to Stirling Castle, Dal- 
keith Palace, Newbattle Abbey, Hawthornden, Roslin 
Castle, Abbotsford, Melrose, Dryburgh Abbey, and to 
York Minster. No, these things I cannot tell you about, 
because I would not know where to begin and where to 
end. I could write a little book on each. Since my arrival 
in London, I have gone with the Webbs, by day, to see 
what we all want to see, and must see of course, such as St. 
Paul's, Westminster, the Tower, the Galleries; and by 
myself I have gone by night to see what / wanted to see ; 
and when alone, how happy I have been, you can, though 
very few others can, imagine. 

London is light all night, and many of its most inter- 
esting places are open until twelve o'clock. Ben Jonson's 
Tavern, The Argyle Rooms, Bolt Court, Vauxhall, etc., 
etc. ; these I have seen, and there are a few more of the 
same sort yet on my list. To-day one of my most inter- 
esting visits was to St. Giles' Church, Cripplegate. There 
John Howe preached, and many other Nonconformist 
divines, during the Commonwealth. I have in my library 
the "Morning Exercises" of these divines in six volumes. 



In Full Service. 



%V7 



In this church Ben Jonson and Oliver Cromwell were 
married, and beneath its pavement John Milton is buried. 
I stood over the slab and recalled many scenes in his life, 
and many passages in his works, with a delight they never 
afforded me previously. 

Will it be possible for me to like Paris as much ? Can I 
have a more romantic adventure than I had the other 
night on Cornhill? 

But what is the use of writing about London ? I could 
not reach letter A in the catalogue of what is to be seen and 
enjoyed. 

To Dr. Plumer he writes after his return (March 13, 

1855): 

I regard the five months I spent abroad as five of the 
most pleasant and profitable of my life. I returned without 
visiting many places I was anxious to see, but I ought to 
be satisfied with a trip which carried me to London, Edin- 
burgh, Dublin, Brussels, Antwerp, Cologne, Frankfort, 
Zurich, Lucerne, Berne, Milan, Genoa, Turin, Verona, 
Venice, Lyons, and Paris, to say nothing of the finest 
lakes and the grandest mountains in the world. 

But, after all, I returned more thankful than ever that I 
was born under a republican government, and in a Protes- 
tant country. It would be foolish not to admit that 
Europe is our superior in some of the trappings and orna- 
ments of life, our superior in architecture, painting and 
sculpture and music ; but in all the great rational ends of 
life — in virtue, integrity, honesty and manliness — in all 
that really makes a people great — in all that makes the 
future (Europe has nothing but a most dismal and tragic 
future for ages to come) — in all that makes the future 
radiant with the animating prospect of a destiny more 
glorious than ever allotted to any other nation — we are as 
superior to Europe as Europe is to us in the mere frippery 
and embellishment of life. When I first reached England, 
I felt like a stranger and a foreigner ; but after travelling 
two or three months on the Continent, after being watched 
and guarded as if I had been a conspirator, after being 
stopped at every frontier and in every town and city, and 
compelled to give an account of who I was, how old, my 



n8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



profession, where I was born, where I came from last, and 
where I was going next — when I got back to England and 
found that I was once more under a constitutional free, and 
not a constitutional despotic government, and in a land 
where the Protestant religion prevailed, I stuffed my pass- 
port away down in the bottom of my trunk and breathed 
freer and stronger, and felt almost at home again. And 
ever since I reached my own dear country, I have been 
singing, "The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places T 
and I have a goodly heritage." Still I want to go abroad 
once more; I want to visit Greece, Egypt, and Palestine, 
and when I make that tour I want you to go with me. 
There is a multitude in Richmond who remember you with 
unchanging affection; but among them all, none cherish 
you with a warmer affection than Hoge. 



During his absence in Europe, Hampden-Sidney College 
conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity (June, 
1854). 

The following year Dr. Hoge, having now no school 
on his hands, embarked on a new enterprise. The Watch- 
man, the organ of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia, had 
led a struggling existence for some years. Dr. Hoge had felt 
much anxiety about it, and encouraged the venerable editor 
by contributions to its columns, and by support under all 
circumstances. At last, in conjunction with Dr. Moore, he 
purchased it. Its name was changed to the Central Pres- 
byterian, and it was published under the firm name of Moore 
and Hoge. It at once became a recognized power in the 
country. In the exciting discussions that agitated the coun- 
try, it fearlessly defended the South against misrepresenta- 
tion and slander, while its calm conservatism did much to 
mould that strong sentiment in favor of moderation and 
peace that kept Virginia true to the Union as long as union 
was possible. In 1859 the paper passed into the able hands 
of Dr. William Brown. 

In the fall of 1856, Dr. Hoge, with his brother Wil- 
liam, visited the Synod of North Carolina, at Fayetteville, in 



In Full Service. 



119 



the interest of Union Seminary. His brother, after four 
years of joyful ministry in Baltimore, had accepted a call to 
the new chair of New Testament Literature and Biblical 
Introduction in Union Seminary, to which he had been 
elected without his knowledge. While he felt the pastorate 
to be his appointed field of usefulness, he gladly availed 
himself of this opportunity to broaden his foundations, as he 
had pursued his theological education privately — though 
under the able guidance of Dr. M'Guffey — while professor 
at Athens. Dr. Moses Hoge — the distinction is neces- 
sary, for William was also a Doctor now — was a direc- 
tor in the same institution, and the two went by appoint- 
ment of the Board to arouse a greater interest in the Semi- 
nary in the Synod of North Carolina. While in Baltimore, 
William Hoge had been married to Virginia Randolph, 
daughter of the Rev. Peyton Harrison, and it is to her that 
the following letter is addressed : 

Fayetteville, N. G, November 13, 1856. 
I must write a word to-night, though it is late and I 
rode all last night in a stage so uncomfortable that I ap- 
plauded your wisdom in not coming with me ; and though 
I have been hard at it all day without sleep or rest, I must 
write to tell you how well and happy I am — happy because 
I am before so bright a pine-knot fire in such a delightful 
place, because I have just partaken of such delicious bits 
of cold turkey and cake and goblets of milk (which I 
needed) ; happy in having my dear old brother with me, 
and having seen my loving Uncle Drury ; happy in having 
heard Moses make so brilliant a speech to-night before the 
Synod in behalf of the Seminary, and because he says my 
speech of a solid hour was just the thing, of peculiar 
felicity, and the best speaking he ever heard from me, while 
more than one member of Synod came to me after church 
and said we had done more for the Seminary to-night than 
ever was done before in this State ; happy because of the 
generous courtesy with which they have given Moses next 
Sunday morning at the communion, and me next Sunday 
night, when Moses says I must by all means preach 
" Stephen." 



120 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



That visit, those speeches, and those sermons are remem- 
bered in North Carolina to this day. 

From these public concerns and occupations it is necessary 
to turn aside awhile into the quieter realm of Dr. Hoge's 
home and family. The birth of his first-born was followed 
(February 7, 1847) by that of a second daughter — Mary 
Rochet — the middle name commemorating Mrs. Hoge's 
Huguenot ancestress, and (December 17, 1849) by a third, 
Fanny Wood. This little lamb was early taken to the arms 
of the Good Shepherd, at that charming age when the mind 
has begun to open, while the heart is still untouched by the 
evil of the world. Of this bereavement her father wrote to 
Dr. Plumer (August 9, 185 1) : 

Reverend and Dear Sir: My dear little Fannie died 
yesterday morning, and is to be buried this afternoon. 
This is an unexpected stroke. She had an attack of 
measles, but the case was not considered dangerous until 
within four hours of her death, when violent congestion 
came on, and quickly did its work. She was most tenderly 
beloved by Susan and myself, but we both feel that God 
is holy, and just and good. I have in this affliction a sweet 
sense of his nearness and love. He could not have removed 
our child with fewer aggravating circumstances. There 
was a prospect that the last struggle would be sharp and 
protracted; but Susan and I went up into the study and 
prayed that God would give her a gentle release. In His 
pity he answered our request, and gave her a seemingly 
painless departure. What a change a day has wrought ! 
Evening before last, Fannie was sitting up, talking and 
even trying to repeat some of her little funny sayings; 
and now she lies beside me — pale, cold, still. 

I would not permit any one to sit up with her last night, 
for I preferred to watch beside the little coffin myself, and 
meditate and pray and gaze upon the sweet face within it, 
without any one to disturb me. No change has yet taken 
place in her appearance. Her features are perfectly placid, 
and a gentle smile rests upon the lips. But far more beau- 
tiful is the immortal part. Precious, precious to me now 
are the revelations of the gospel. I do not feel that I have 



In Full Service. 



121 



lost my child, but that she is the only one of the three that 
is safe. I wish to be taught by this dispensation. I know- 
that you will pray that it may result in all the benefit for 
which it was intended. With love to your family, I re- 
main, Yours affectionately, M. D. Hoge. 

Another little daughter — Susan, 1 the mother's namesake 
— came for a little while to cheer their hearts here, and then 
lift them up to heaven. He himself was quite ill during this 
time, and the mingled sorrow and strain was beginning to 
tell upon him severely. His brother came down from 
Hampden-Sidney to see him, and wrote his wife (April 17, 

■1356): 

The interruptions by calls, etc., are innumerable, so that 
it is very little time I can secure for private conversation 
with brother. He is very busy, for he would edit the 
paper this week, and is far from well. He looks badly — 
wasted, worn. He wears the continual expression of care, 
and an overburdened mind and heart and body. How I 
wish he could rest, but he cannot, or will not. He has been 
much cheered, though, by my visit. It has revived old 
times and some merry associations, and given him some 
hearty laughs. All this does him good. He greatly ap- 
preciated my prompt coming when I heard of his illness, 
nor was your part of the generous sacrifice forgotten. 
They, that is, of course, Moses and Susan, unite in hearty 
thanks and love. 

But a few months later he is writing to Mrs. Hoge in 
liappy vein, on his birthday (September 17, 1857) : 

This has been a charming day. The sun shines bright 
and warm — too warm for pedestrians — but the breeze is 
fresh and strong, and in the house the temperature is 
delicious. 

I have been trying to spend the day profitably, as every 
birthday should be spent, in renewing the remembrances 
of mercies enjoyed and in confession of privileges un- 

1 Born September 7, 1855 ; died at Dr. Thomas Hoge's, in Halifax, 
June 13, 1856. 



122 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



improved, and sins committed. I have been making good 
resolutions, too, but how vain are these, unless grace en- 
ables us to remember and to keep them. I can truly say- 
that goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of 
my life, and Mr. Gretter himself has scarcely more reason 
to consider himself l!a_jnkacle of mercy and a monument 



And in recounting blessings on a birthday, I will not 
forget to mention my wife as one of my choicest and 
richest, for I have been favored by a good providence with. 
one who has been the most dutiful, forbearing, patient and 
devoted of wives, one who has rendered me the most 
efficient aid, both in private life and in public duties. I 
think that I am indebted to you for more than half of the 
favor and popularity I have ever enjoyed. Nor in thi& 
catalogue of mercies will I omit to mention my children. 
Bess and Mary are very unlike, but both attractive in their 
way. Bess for her good sense, prudence and unselfish dis- 
position, and Mary for her playfulness, simplicity and 
candor. The children are both great comforts to me, and 
I anticipate great happiness from their society when they 
grow up, if their lives are spared. And the dear children 
who are gone, they, too, are comforts to me, for they are 
the occasion of many pleasant memories and delightful 
contemplations, as I think of their present happiness and 
eternal exemption from sin and sorrow. 

Such are my birthday reflections, and with tenderest 
assurance of unchanging love, I am, 



The following year his church was again visited by a: 
season of spiritual refreshing, and his brother came down- 
to assist him, and wrote of it to his wife (June 23,. 



Tuesday and Wednesday nights I preached to a lecture- 
room full and overflowing. Some stood outside and some 
went away. Last night we went to the church, and had a 
fine audience. Every morning we have a prayer-meeting 
at six-thirty. Lecture-room full. This morning Moses 
conducted the prayer-meeting, while I met all who wished 
special instruction in religion in the church. We did not 



of__gxaee. 




Your devoted husband, 



M. D. H. 



1858) : 



In Full Service. 



123 



know whether a dozen would attend. More than fifty were 
there representing every degree of interest. 

/ think I ought to remain. I long to be with you, but 
this is precious work, and Moses cannot do it alone. 
Twenty-six joined last Sunday on examination, and many 
are serious. Pray for me — all of you. W. J. H. 

It was the last work of the kind they were to do together 
for some time, as the next year his brother went to New 
York as colleague to Dr. Gardiner Spring in the Brick 
Church. Of this and other matters Dr. Hoge wrote to Mrs. 
Greenleaf (May 2, 1859) : 

I am doubly your debtor since your last kind letter came 
to remind me of a former obligation. But if a letter brings 
pleasure with it, how much greater the joy when one can 
grasp the hand of the writer. The 8th of May will soon be 
here, and you know I would not pass through New Bruns- 
wick without stopping, if you were there. Moreover, I 
promise to spend the Sunday, after my performance in the 
Academy of Music, with you, if you will be at home. 
But (what a rascally little word that is!) — but if I should 
not get to New York this month, I cannot shake hands- 
with you, and if I do not appear in the Academy of 
Music, I cannot spend the following Sunday in New 
Brunswick. 

Now the fact is, I have declined the invitation to preach 
in the Academy of Music ; and perhaps I am the first one 
who has bid that cup of honor pass from him. So you see 
that my ambition, if I ever had any, droops on tired wings. 
I had two engagements which stood in the way of being 
in New York on the 8th of May, and though on some 
accounts I would have liked to have taken my turn at the 
Academy, so far as that was concerned, it was not much 
of a self-denial to decline going. I suppose you did not go 
over to hear Dr. Plumer, as you said nothing about it. 
The Observer gave a graphic account of the man and his 
manner, but said less than usual about the sermon. 

The Hoge stock seems to be a little above par in New 
York of late. Some of my friends there insist that 
Brothers William and Moses must not be separated. I 
was quite complimented to be asked to succeed a man like 



124 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Dr. Bethune, but it would take a great deal to induce me 
to leave the Presbyterian Church. 

Richmond is out in its most charming spring fashion. 
I neved saw it looking so pretty. We are certainly happy 
here ; what more could we expect elsewhere ! My church 
was never in so flourishing a condition. Our gain in mem- 
bership last year was sixty-five. Since Roger Martin 
became an elder he is almost as efficient as his noble father. 
Instead of the fathers shall be the children. 

I want to be remembered to and by the " Good Shep- 
herd/' Please say a kind word to Dr. Davidson for me, 
also to your brother Edward when you see him. Let your 
father know that I cherish for him the warmest regard. 
I want you to become acquainted with Brother William's 
wife. She was very happy at the Seminary, but I think 
she will like New York. Get well as fast as you can, and 
put a cheerful courage on, and let "time but the impression 
deeper make" of any regard you have for your affectionate 
Virginia brother, Moses D. Hoge. 

The sermons at the Academy of Music, referred to, were 
an enterprise of certain philanthropic Christian men, who 
sought to reach the non-church-going masses of New York, 
by bringing eminent ministers from all parts of the country 
to preach in the Academy of Music. When his brother 
preached in this series the audience numbered five thousand, 
which was then said to be the largest congregation that ever 
assembled within walls to hear the gospel in this country. 
In consequence of this sermon came calls to the Collegiate 
Reformed (Dutch) Church, which he declined, and to the 
Brick Church, which he accepted. The church to which 
Dr. Moses Hoge was called was the " Reformed Dutch 
Church on the Heights," Brooklyn, to which the eminent 
Dr. Bethune had ministered for eleven years, but which 
he had just resigned to go abroad for his health. 

Of a visit which he did make to New York shortly after 
he wrote Mrs. Greenleaf (September 10, 1859) : 

I came unexpectedly to the city last Saturday night. I 
could not stop in New Brunswick, because I did not know 



In Full Service. 



125 



that I should have more than one Sabbath before my 
return, and I wished to see and hear Brother William in 
his new church. 

I stopped at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and did not intend 
to let William know that I was in the city until after the 
evening service, intending to hear Thornwell in the morn- 
ing, and then go to the Brick Church at the second service ; 
but you know my luck at meeting people. Sunday morn- 
ing I walked out of my hotel, and of course ran plump up 
against the inevitable William. I promptly declined his 
invitation to preach for him in the afternoon, and went 
and heard Thornwell in the morning. 

But during the intermission, William came to the hotel, 
really too sick to preach (the first time since his removal 
here), and I, of course, consented to take his place under 
these circumstances. I have been extremely busy all 
through the week, having to find a French teacher for a 
friend who is going to open a female school under my 
supervision in Richmond, and buy a philosophical appa- 
ratus among other commissions. I have not had time to 
call on any of my friends. But for these engagements, I 
would have written and asked you if you could join me 
here. It was not possible, however, as I could not have 
enjoyed your company. I have seen very little of Brother 
William. He moves into his house, 258 Lexington avenue 
(to which I have had my letters directed) to-day. My 
friend, McClellan, came and took me away from the hotel, 
and I am always happy with him, as he and his sisters 
entertain me just according to my mind. 

Since I commenced this note, Dr. Spring called to ask 
me to preach for him to-morrow morning. I had to 
decline, being engaged to Thompson, of Grand Street 
Church. I have also declined preaching in the Cooper 
Institute, and for Dr. Bethune's people to-morrow night 
(what a declining man I am!). Tuesday I have set apart 
for Brooklyn visits. There are four or five people there 
I must see. If you could come over conveniently, I could 
spend Tuesday night at the " Shepherd's." 

But all other matters were soon overshadowed by an event 
that filled him and his friends with joy — the birth of his first 
son, October 20, 1859. 



126 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



His brother wrote (October 26th) : 

Allow me — allow my wife, allow Lacy and Addison and 
every member of my family — to congratulate you on the 
birth of a son! At last! Heralded, too, by four sisters. 
Perhaps he will be the "coming man" people profess to be 
looking for so diligently nowadays. I wish I could see 
him — the young Jeshurun; doubtless he "kicks" enough. 
I wish I could see old Brother Gretter's paroxysms of 
loving laughter and tears, and Brother Paine's ebullitions 
of emotion, and the Second Church generally in its ecstasy. 
I suppose he will be elected your colleague in the pastorate 
at once. He could at least begin by doing the typograph- 
ical error part of the Central ; put him among the types, 
and see how long it would take him to knock everything 
into "pi." 

We have imagined that possibly Bess and Mary some- 
times make a little fuss over him, and I can see the grateful 
Dame Susan's loving eyes drinking him in with a sense 
of soft, unspeakable luxury. You are a little harder to 
imagine, except in the teasing and fun-making department. 
And yet I reckon you have many solemn thoughts of 
mingled joy, tenderness and anxiety. A little boy's birth 
may well awaken serious thoughts. Oh ! if you could but 
look forward and see him an able and faithful minister of 
the gospel, what years of painful solicitude and fluctuating 
apprehension and hope would be prevented. But this may 
not be! These are part of the discipline needful for the 
parent, and of the means by which the child is brought to 
the desired ends. And how precious now the provisions 
•of the covenant of grace. How mercifully have they 
wrought in our case. We have often spoken of the un- 
utterable joy it would have given our dear mother, could 
■she have known the blessed stations and work on earth, 
that grace had in store for us. Let us emulate her faith 
and her faithfulness, her patient strivings and self-sacrifice 
for us. 

I am anxious to learn the name of the little boy, how 
he thrives, and how his mother is. Give her a great 
deal of love from us both. May God bless her and this 
dear child, and spare him for great usefulness, and her 
to see it. 



In Full Service. 



127 



To Mrs. Greenleaf, Dr. Hoge writes of the same 
event : 

I could not have believed that twelve hours would pass 
before I replied to one of the best and most welcome 
letters I ever received from you ; but now the days are but 
hours to me, and the weeks have contracted to days. All 
my time is occupied, and so I fail to execute my most 
cherished plans and purposes. I keep on intending to do 
w r hat I wish, but what lies out of the orbit of necessary 
duty is seldom accomplished. When you were with me, 
you sometimes saw me busy, but never so busy as I am 
now. 

I have had a good deal to tell you, too. Every day since 
our little boy was born, I wanted to say something about 
him to you. He is a noble looking little fellow, though 
only two weeks old, with a large head and clear, bold eyes. 
Bess and Mary are in ecstasies about their "little brother," 
a new and sweet phrase to them. The important matter 
of giving him a name is not yet attended to. "Of course, 
he must be called Moses Drury," says nearly every one. 
This evening I received a letter from Mr. Ewell. "You 
cannot hesitate," he says, "about a name. Call him Moses 
D., and nothing else." Yet I do hesitate. I do not like 
the custom of continuing the same name in a family. 
Moreover, every one should have his own name, and as in 
our family we are all going to be historic characters, if we 
continue to bear the same name, we will confuse the Muse, 
and in making up her annals she will constantly be asking 
"which Moses?" My first thought was Parsons Green- 
leaf. Susan interposes what has become to her a weighty 
objection — the number who have borne it for a short time 
and then passed away. On no other ground would Susan 
object to what would be my choice. Then the name of my 
brother has been suggested. But that does not suit me 
for the reason already given; and as to my own name, I 
hold Moses in something like detestation. Instead of 
getting my associations with it, as I should have done, 
from the Pentateuch, I derived them from the Vicar of 
Wakefield; not the grand old Moses who first wore the 
name, but the green young Moses who sold the colt for a 
pair of spectacles. 



128 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



It has been proposed to call a meeting of the two- 
churches for the purpose of receiving nominations, dis- 
cussing the subject, and deciding it by vote! Dr. Moore 
says it will be nearly unanimous in favor of "Moses D." 
I am glad I have at least a veto power. 

The final decision was Alexander Lacy, thus uniting the 
names of Archibald Alexander, Drury Lacy and Moses 
Hoge — the three great preachers so intimately associated at 
Hampden-Sidney. And just here comes in an incident that 
revived some of those memories of the past which he sought 
to perpetuate in the name of his son. 

To Mrs. Greenleaf he wrote (April 24, i860) from Co- 
lumbus, Ohio : 

Having promised to make an address to the students of 
the Western Theological Seminary, when I got to Pitts- 
burg, I felt that I ought not to return home without first 
making a visit to my venerable uncle, in this place. I 
am now glad I came, as his children assure me that he was 
very much touched and deeply gratified at my coming, 
having now arrived at that time of life when he is affected 
by such marks of respect and affection. He never was 
demonstrative, but now his nerves are weaker, or his 
heart is tenderer, than formerly, and his emotional nature 
reveals itself in a way new to me. He treats me as if I had 
been a long-absent son, returned for a short visit, to be 
repeated no more. 

This morning I am going to Cincinnati, and from thence 
to Athens, and pay probably my last visit to the place 
where a portion of my childhood was spent, and where 
my father is buried. I have a yearning to see the place 
again, and never but once. 

Changes were coming rapidly now, as if before the great 
new future, so full of portent, that was impending, all old 
associations were to be blotted out. First his wife's home 
in Prince Edward was broken up, and then it became neces- 
sary for them to leave the house they had occupied for twelve 
years in Richmond. Of both events he writes Mrs. Green- 
leaf : 



In Full Service. 



129 



July 31, i860. 

After a long season of anxiety and toil; visits to the 
sick and visits to the dying and bereaved, I broke away 
from other engagements on last Saturday morning and 
came to the country, where, after preaching one sermon 
at college on Sunday, I have been enjoying the rare ex- 
perience of absolute rest. The season is soon to end, 
however, for after taking my family to the mountains 
to-morrow, I have to return to Richmond to meet an en- 
gagement on Friday evening of this week. . . . We 
will set off from Poplar Hill with quite a cavalcade to 
Farmville, where we take the cars. Susan, Bess, Mary, 
Lacy and Bridget, the nurse, will sufficiently fill one car- 
riage; then will follow a baggage wagon, drawn by two 
mules, containing the trunks, etc., and Lacy's goat in a 
cage, and then I will bring up the rear on horseback. 

It will be our final exodus from Poplar Hill. Mr. Wood 
having purchased a plantation on the Brazos, in Texas, sold 
this place last week to a gentleman of Nottoway (Colonel 
Knight) for twenty-eight thousand dollars. Of course, he 
takes all his negroes (thirty-five) with him. Susan is 
much distressed at the sale of her dear old home. It has 
been in the family for one hundred and forty years. She 
and Mr. Wood's wife go off, I believe, and take a little 
private cry about once a day. 

Richmond, Va., September 10, i860. 
To-day we leave our old house finally and forever, but 
before we go I cannot refrain from sending you "a fare- 
well" from the place where "we have been happy together," 
and which was, for a time, your home as well as mine. 
My local attachments are strong, and certainly I have 
reason to remember this place. Here we have lived nearly 
twelve years, here dear little Fanny and Susy were born, 
and from the same chamber were carried to their graves. 
Here I have had important relations with many persons, 
with the young ladies who were members of my family, 
and a large proportion of whom became members of my 
church (more than twenty during one session) . Here good 
Mr. Martin spent some of his most happy and useful hours, 
during a revival, when we held prayer and inquiry meet- 
ings in the parlor, and when three of his children became 
pious. But I cannot do more than begin to tell you of the 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



associations — pleasant generally, mournful occasionally — 
that I have with this house. This morning at family 
prayers I tried earnestly to invoke God's blessing upon 
all who had ever lived with me at this place, whether as 
teachers, pupils, or servants. . . . 

I feel very unsettled; the committee of the General 
Assembly's church (Metropolitan) in Washington have 
unanimously elected me to become- pastor (the appointment 
rests with them), and I would accept were there not some 
things connected with the inauguration of the enterprise 
which I do not like. But under all the circumstances of 
the case, I think I will decline, probably this week. The 
whole matter is to be kept secret until my decision is 
made. If I decline, it will not be known that I have been 
invited. It is a strange providence that keeps me in Vir- 
ginia so long, when I am one of the most restless of mor- 
tals, and love change for its own sake. 

Such was the tenacity with which Dr. Hoge always 
kept a secret that it is probable many of those nearest to him 
know of this important call for the first time from these 
pages. Besides the calls to Brooklyn and Washington, and 
a number of other overtures that he checked in their in- 
cipiency, he was during this period offered the presidency of 
Hampden-Sidney College in 1856, and of Davidson College, 
North Carolina, in i860. Each call he declined on its merits, 
and not from a settled determination to remain in Richmond. 
That came later : when he had attained there a position that 
was unique. 

The two following letters from his brother will suitably 
close this chapter : 

A happy New Year to you, my dear brother. To you 
and all yours — "wife, children and friends"; to your 
church and our distracted country ; a year happy, blessed, 
fruitful ; a year of grace, mercy, and peace, from God our 
Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Let me congratulate you on the new leisure you are 
about to enjoy, with nothing to do but be pastor of a city 
church. You have not known such a luxury for years. 
How will you dispose of your vacant hours? save your- 



In Full Service. 



self from ennui and rust? how keep out of mischief? 
What ! no paper ? no school ? Only three sermons a week, 
with pastoral visiting, funerals, marriages, correspondence 
and the duties of hospitality ? A perfect sinecure — 

"Otium cum dignitate." 

And who, my dear brother, shall deny your right to a 
little rest? Who shall begrudge you either your laurels 
or your leisure ? A man at your time of life, having spent 
liis youth and the prime of his manhood in unusual toils, 
and having advanced some months into his forty-third 
year, may well look for the calm shades and mellower 
fruits which we naturally associate with that mature period 
of existence! 

If your old doctrine is true, "the more labor the more 
leisure," I fear I shall not get so many nor so long letters 
any more. Idleness may benumb your right hand, and 
clog your nimble pen with rust. Do not let it be so, pray. 

Let me lay aside all joking, and though a younger 
brother, say a word of sober counsel. 

Prepare with much labor, both of reading and writing, 
a stock of rich doctrinal sermons, 1 not so much for your 
•own people (however important that may be) as for 
preaching away from home. 1 Pardon the freedom I am 
going to use. On people who already knew and admired 
you, your preaching in New York left just the impression 
which generally follows it in Virginia, but with the ex- 
ception of your able and elaborate sermon on the glory of 
the Presbyterian Church, I fear the sermons you preached 
here did not do you full justice. Your other discourses 
were clear, bright, popular in their cast, and where you 
are well known would be very impressive; but somehow, 
though my testimony has only negative foundation (or 
nearly so), they did not take a strong hold on the people. 
Dr. N. L. Rice was lately here. He has not such advan- 
tages of voice and elocution as you have, but he carried 
the people before him as the wind carries the cloud. No 
doubt some could be found who did not like him, for my 
full persuasion is, that no man ever preached so meanly as 
to have no admirers, and none ever preached so well as to 
please everybody. But I felt immediately that he made 

1 Underscored in pencil by M. D. H. 



132 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



a powerful, delightful, permanent impression. And it 
seemed to me that the effect was mainly owing to the scrip- 
tural richness, the doctrinal compactness and weight of 
his discourses. My people heard two from him; I but 
one, and that in the lecture-room. Then he preached on 
the text, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 
I never heard old Dr. Alexander, but I felt that this must 
be like his richest experimental sermons. When I did not 
hear him he preached on Justification, "Who shall lay 
anything to the charge of God's elect," etc. The effect 
was grand. I am sure many people will remember it to 
their dying day. Some were filled with enthusiasm. As 
far as I can learn, the same effect was produced on Dr. 
Alexander's people. They would have called him, but for 
the known impossibility of removing him so far from 
Chicago. Some persons, like Dr. Spring, could see that 
no man could preach constantly that way to the same peo- 
ple. He put so much rich truth in every sermon that to 
repeat himself would be a necessity. But I am not speak- 
ing of what may be prudent for a pastor in the regular 
duties of the pulpit. The people heard him gladly and 
were profited, and his influence for good was greatly 
enlarged. 

This is one thing I have been hoping you would do, in 
this, almost the first year in which you could give yourself 
fairly to the simple work of the ministry, that you would 
look over your great stock of written sermons, select a 
few on the grandest doctrinal themes, enlarge the plan, 
condense the matter, pile up the argument, studying the 
best things of the greatest divines, and working for weeks 
on each subject. You have stock enough, time enough, 
and experience enough, now, to enable you to do this to 
great advantage. 

The marks upon this letter show that good heed was taken 
to this word of loving, brotherly counsel. There can be no 
doubt that for a time Dr. Hoge's growth as a preacher 
suffered from the multifarious concerns that absorbed his 
time. Popular, his preaching always was; powerful, it 
often was ; but its richness and fulness, as we have known 
it, were still in the future. God has his own plan for his 



In Full Service. 



133 



servants. William Hoge was given opportunity to devote 
himself exclusively to the work of the ministry from the first, 
and matured early, for his time was short. To Moses Hoge 
came many cares and distractions that prevented study and 
retarded growth. But God gave him time, and his richest 
fruition was after his brother's course was finished. 

But the time of leisure was not yet. Just before him was 
the shock and whirl and turmoil of the war. But before 
plunging into this subject let us close the chapter with a note 
of peace : 

New York, March 6, 1861. 

My Dear Brother: When you wrote to us that God 
had blessed you with another little boy, 1 Virginia would 
have me sit down to welcome the dear child at once. But 
you still intimated that you were about to write me "a real 
letter," and I was rather afraid to get so far ahead of you, 
lest you should be discouraged and not pluck up again this 
year. I looked for a fuller account of the lad, in a few 
days, and for tidings from Susan. But no word has come, 
and I can wait no longer. For, meanwhile, I have inciden- 
tally heard that my dear sister has been very sick, and I 
am anxious to learn how it is with her, and whether it is 
"well with the child," and with you also, my dear brother. 
Let me know as soon as you can, that I may rejoice with 
you if you rejoice, or weep with you if God has made you 
weep. May our God be with you and all yours, blessing 
and comforting, and, through every change, enriching you 
with all grace and peace. 

We are well, and all things go with us as usual. The 
lines fall to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly 
heritage. My hands and heart and head and voice are full 
of work, and it is a great and blessed work for our Saviour 
and King. Oh ! for grace to do it better ! 

All unite with me in expressions of affection and sym- 
pathy both in your joys and griefs. 

Ever your loving brother, W. J. Hoge. 

1 Moses Drury, born February 2, 1861. 



CHAPTER VII. 



At the Confederate Capital. 
1861 — 1862. 

"May we not say, moreover, while so many of our late Heroes have worked 
rather as revolutionary men, that nevertheless every Great Man, every genuine 
man, is by the nature of him a son of Order, not of Disorder? It is a tragical 
position for a true man to work in revolutions. He seems an anarchist ; and in- 
deed a painful element of anarchy does encumber him at every step, — him to 
whose whole soul anarchy is hostile, hateful." — Carlyle. 

IT is no part of the purpose of these pages to recite those 
facts or to discuss those questions that belong to history ; 
but Dr. Hoge's relation to the Confederacy was too con- 
spicuous, and his identification with the Confederate cause 
too complete, for any biography to do justice to his memory 
that did not present his views and convictions on those great 
questions that had so long agitated the public mind, and at 
length rent the country in twain in one of the bloodiest wars 
of history. 

And the time has surely come when men should be able to 
look calmly into the causes of that war, and do justice to 
the principles and motives that controlled the minds and 
actions of those on both sides of the great conflict. No 
thoughtful man in the South now fails to recognize the 
moral earnestness of many of the leaders of the agitation for 
the abolition of slavery, nor the high principles that ani- 
mated those who sprang to arms for the preservation of the 
Union. But they expect a judgment as fair for those who, 
with equal sincerity and at greater sacrifice, took arms for the 
preservation of constitutional liberty, as they understood it, 
and to repel the armed invasion of those commonwealths 
about whose names clustered patriotic memories older 
than the Union itself. The late Hon. John Randolph 
Tucker, at the Yale Alumni dinner in 1887, P ut the whole 



At the Confederate Capital. 



135 



matter in a nutshell : "The North fought for a great political 
idea — the idea of Union; the South fought for another 
great political idea — the idea of local self-government. Pre- 
serve the two and the war will not have been fought in 
vain." 

With the relative degree of praise or blame attaching to 
the political leaders on either side., we are not here concerned. 
The question that presents itself to us is the attitude of the 
enlightened, conservative. Christian men of the South, the 
class of men of which Dr. Hoge stood forth as a type and 
a leader. What did he. and such as he, think of slavery, of 
the Union, of secession ? 

The fact that slavery was the occasion of those discussions 
that brought on the war, has led to the superficial inference 
that the war was fought on the southern side to conserve the 
institution of slavery. However powerful this consideration 
may have been in controlling the actions of politicians, this 
conclusion ignores the large body of anti-slavery sentiment 
that had always existed in the South, and the burden with 
which the evils of slavery rested upon the hearts and con- 
sciences of its enlightened Christian people. One of the few- 
extant letters from the elder Dr. Moses Hoge (1819) is 
concerned with his efforts to unite a husband and wife be- 
longing to different masters. The owner of "Frank" was 
unwilling to hire him to the owner of "Celia" — for some 
grudge — but agreed to hire him to Dr. Hoge, with per- 
mission to him to place him where he pleased. The letter 
goes on to deplore the condition of the slaves, subject to such 
separations, to predict the judgment of heaven upon the land 
if such injustice continued, but to express the hope that 
there were signs of improvement, and of greater interest in 
their spiritual welfare. In 18 14 his son, James Hoge, re- 
moved to Ohio because of his objections to slavery. On the 
way thither he spent a night with Dr. Conrad Speece, and 
they fell into a discussion of the question. Dr. Speece 
asked him what he would do with the slaves, if freed. 



136 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



"Send them back to Africa if they cannot be retained among 
us as free laborers." Dr. Speece was taken with the idea 
and wrote about it. Dr. Hoge never claimed originality 
for it, as he had seen what Dr. Hopkins, of Rhode Island, 
had written on the subject. But it was two years before he 
heard of Dr. Findlay's " Agency for African Coloniza- 
tion." 1 In the same letter in which the birth of Moses 
Drury Hoge was announced, his father expresses a desire to 
find a field of labor where slavery did not exist. In conse- 
quence he, too, moved to Ohio. His younger son, William, 
in a letter to his affianced bride, with regard to their domestic 
arrangements, expresses the desire not to own a slave, al- 
though he did not wish to separate her from any loved and 
trusted family servant. Her father, although a large slave- 
holder, once wrote for one of the Virginia papers an article 
signed "Abolition" — before that name became identified with 
the Abolition party — advocating a plan of gradual emanci- 
pation. 2 His son, the Rev. Dabney Carr Harrison, although 
a man of scholarly tastes and habits, chose his pastoral 
charge on account of the large opportunity it afforded 
for missionary work among the slaves. And Moses Drury 
Hoge, on receiving a number of slaves from his wife's estate, 
at once offered them their liberty. Only one accepted, and 
that one had not known him. He afterwards bought five 
slaves, the relatives of hired servants of his, whose position 
was uncomfortable, and set them at liberty. Such pecuniary 
sacrifices are far more eloquent of an interest in human lib- 
erty and the welfare of humanity than the most violent anti- 
slavery harangues. Yet, while such was the personal atti- 
tude of Dr. Hoge and others who have been mentioned, 
not one of them would have pronounced the relation between 
master and slave in itself sinful. All of them freely admitted 
slave-holders to the communion. All of them subscribed to 

1 Letter from Dr. James Hoge to Dr. Plumer, March 10, 1859. 

2 Mr. Webster's "March 7th speech" comments on the effect of the 
abolition societies in stifling such discussion in the South. 



At the Confederate Capital. 137 



those church declarations that pronounced the relation scrip- 
turally lawful, They recognized the evils. They abhorred 
the iniquitous traffic by which slaves were brought to our 
shores ; but they refused to count as sinners those men who 
bought the first cargoes of slaves to save their lives, while 
sending to the mother-country unheeded protests against 
their introduction into Virginia; they refused to condemn 
those who afterwards acquired them by inheritance or pur- 
chase, or to countenance any effort to deprive them of 
legally recognized property without due compensation ; and 
they were unwilling to join in any agitation for wholesale 
emancipation so long as such emancipation seemed to involve 
greater evils for the slaves and for the country than slavery 
itself. The colonization scheme seems now one of the wildest 
dreams that was ever conceived in the mind of man ; but its 
conception, and the heroic efforts to make it succeed, are the 
strongest possible demonstration of earnestness of purpose 
to solve a problem that seemed otherwise insoluble. An in- 
teresting relic of the sacrifices made in this enterprise is a 
letter from Dr. Hoge to Dr. Plumer, enclosing fifty dol- 
lars and a list of articles that the Doctor was to purchase 
and forward by a ship about to sail from Baltimore. Mrs. 
Rice had learned that one of her slaves who had been sent 
out by the Colonization Society was in need, and she took 
advantage of the opportunity to relieve his wants. The 
good woman was poor and these pastors were busy ; but she 
cheerfully gave her money and they their time to fulfil what 
all considered a sacred responsibility. 

If these men cast themselves in with the Confederate 
cause, it was evidently not to preserve slavery. 

Nor were they lacking in love for the Union, and loyalty 
to the Federal idea and the Federal government. On March 
17, 1850, during the great debates in Washington, Mr. Hoge 
wrote to Dr. Plumer : "I have been trying to get a chance 
to slip off to Washington for a few days. I want to see 
something of the national life at the focus ; but now I sup- 



138 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



pose all the big guns are fired ! 1 Disunion indeed ! Dis- 
union of these United States ! I wish Old Hickory was alive 
— I just wish Old Hickory was alive!" 

Again, in 185 1, writing to Dr. Plumer in commenda- 
tion of his letter on the Union in the Journal of Commerce, 
he expresses his great regret at observing a feeling of grow- 
ing indifference to the Union on the part of the planters in 
various counties in Virginia he had recently visited. "I was 
pained in observing the extensive disaffection to the Union 
which seemed to prevail in that part of Virginia. It strikes 
me if you expressed anything too strongly it was when you 
spoke of the small number in the South who are in favor of 
secession, if it could be accomplished peacefully." In 1859, 
Dr. William Hoge wrote his brother from New York in. 
the same strain : 

To-morrow is our Thanksgiving Day. One thing 
darkens its joy. Shall as many States ever again celebrate 
one day united in one Confederacy? God has already 
chased away many dark clouds and averted the bolts which: 
threatened to rend us asunder. I trust and pray he will 
still save us from the wrath and folly of war. But my 
own hopes have never been so darkened. The people have 
in a great measure lost their horror of disunion. I still 
believe an overwhelming majority love the union. But 
words Which were once hardly whispered are now spoken 
aloud — yea, shouted with exultation — and the number of 
those who would destroy the Union, I fear, has rapidly 
increased. I rejoice in your calm, clear editorials in this 
present crisis. Your answers to the atrocious and lying 

have been all I could desire. Prime has done noble 

service. I hope you will do what you can to let the South 
see his editorials, as the expression of a largely held senti- 
ment in the North. The South never needed calmness and 
moderation more than now. It would calm and console 
many men in the South to read such conservative words 
from one of the most influential Northern presses. 

1 Clay's resolutions were offered January 29th. Calhoun spoke March' 
4th; Webster, March 7th. 



At the Confederate Capital. 139 



The files of the Central Presbyterian at this critical period 
are unfortunately lost, so that Dr. Hoge's editorial views 
cannot be reproduced in his own language ; but the follow- 
ing wise, conservative, patriotic and Christian letter from 
his life-long friend, Dr. Dabney, sufficiently sets forth 
the views of those like-minded with himself. Some time 
before, in sending an "appeal for peace" to the Central Pres- 
byterian, he closed a private letter accompanying it by say- 
ing, "The Christian people of this country can easily save 
the country if they will. What a burning shame if they will 
not." Now, after Lincoln was elected and South Carolina 
had seceded, he wrote, January 4, 1861 : 

Dear Brother Hoge : I employ a part of the leisure of 
this fast day afternoon to answer your kind letters, recipro- 
cate your affectionate wishes for me and mine, and explain 
my views somewhat on public affairs. It is from God that 
all domestic security has proceeded, in more quiet times, 
though at such times our unthankfulness causes us more 
to overlook his good hand; and his power and goodness 
must be our defence now, to cover us and our feeble house- 
holds "under his feathers." 

My conviction all along has been that we ministers, when 
acting ministerially, publicly, or any way representatively 
of God's people as such, should seem to have no politics, 
and many reasons urge this. One of the most potent is, 
that else their moral power (and through their fault the 
moral power of the church) to act as peacemakers and 
mediators will be lost. I thought, too, that I saw very 
plainly that there was plenty of excitement and passion; 
that our people were abundantly touchy and wakeful con- 
cerning aggression, and that there were plenty of politi- 
cians to make the fire burn hot enough, without my help to 
blow it. Hence my public and professional action has been 
only that of a pacificator, and that only on Christian (not 
political) grounds and views. I believe that in this humble 
attempt I have done and am doing a little good, which my 
God will not forget, although it may, alas ! seem for the 
present to be swallowed up in the overmuch evil. "The 
day will reveal it." 



140 Moses Drury Hoge. 

But I have my politics personally, and at the polls act on 
them. They are about these. I voted for Breckenridge, 
fully expecting to be beaten ; and, therefore, preferring to 
be beaten with the standard-bearer most theoretically cor- 
rect. But if I had seen that Bell or even Douglass had a 
chance to beat Lincoln, I could have voted for either. I 
have considered the state of Northern agression as very 
ominous for many years (as you know, having stronger 
views of this four years ago than most of our people) ; but 
I do not think that Lincoln's election makes them at all 
more ominous than they were before. I believe that we 
should have effectually checkmated his administration, and 
have given the Free Soil party a "thundering" defeat in 
1864. Hence, I consider Lincoln's election no proper casus 
belli, least of all for immediate separate secession, which 
could never be the right way, under any circumstances. 
Hence I regard the conduct of South Carolina as unjusti- 
fiable towards the United States at large, and towards her 
Southern sisters. She has, in my views, worsted the com- 
mon cause, forfeited the righteous strength of our position, 
and aggravated our difficulties of position a hundred fold ; 
yet regard to our own rights unfortunately compel us to 
shield her from the chastisement which she most condignly 
deserves. 1 But, even in shielding her, we must see to it, 
as we believe in and fear a righteous God, that we do no 
iniquity, as she has done. For instance, the power of a 
Federal government to fight an independent State back 
into the Union is one thing ; the right of that government 
to hold its own property, fairly paid for and ceded (the 
forts) is another thing. Take South Carolina's own 
theory, that she is now a foreign nation to the United 
States and rightfully so, how can it be the duty of the 
President or of Congress, sworn to uphold the laws, to 
surrender the soil and property of the United States to a 
foreign nation insolently and threateningly demanding 
them ; and, with a sauciness almost infinite, saying to the 

1 Perhaps Dr. Dabney goes further in his condemnation of South 
Carolina than Dr. Hoge would have done; but in the main position, 
that Lincoln's election, without some overt attack upon the constitutional 
rights of the States, was no sufficient ground for secession, their views 
were the same. Compare notes of address on page 146. 



At the Confederate Capital. 141- 

United States, "You shall not take any additional measures 
to defend your own property ; if you do so, we will fight." 
Hence, if I were king in Virginia, I would say to the Pres- 
ident, "You are entitled, as head of the United States, to 
hold the forts, to strengthen your own garrisons, to do 
anything defensive in them you choose, till they lawfully 
change owners by equal purchase. If you are assailed, beat 
them off, and their blood be on their own heads." But if 
an attempt were made to subdue South Carolina herself, 
without first offering to her such a redress of her federal 
grievances as would be satisfactory to the moderate , just 
majority of her Southern sisters, I would say, "Hands off, 
at your peril." 

Now, it may be said, this is all theoretically right; but 
it is all out of date at this crisis ; the crisis is too dangerous 
to admit of ethical niceties. We must "go it blind," and 
stand or fall with South Carolina. I reply it is never too 
late, or too dangerous to do right. Verily, there is a God 
who judgeth in the earth. How can we appeal to him in 
the beginning of what may be a great and arduous contest, 
when we signalize its opening by a wrong? Besides, if 
we are to do anything prosperously or wisely we must 
clear ourselves, before the great mass of the Union-loving, 
God-fearing men of the North, of this wanton breach of 
federal compacts, and disregard of vested rights, which 
South Carolina is trying to commit. 

But I greatly fear the temper of our people is no longer 
considerate enough to place themselves thoroughly in the 
right in this matter. In view, then, of the actual state of 
affairs, justifiable or unjustifiable, I would say that the 
Legislature of Virginia ought, on the first day it meets, to 
call a State convention. It ought also to take immediate 
steps for a concert of the Southern States, to be well knit 
as soon as their several State conventions can elect com- 
missioners ; to present a united front to the North, for two 
objects: to demand firmly our rights within the Union, 
and to limit any Federal or Northern collision with South 
Carolina, within the limits I have defined above. This 
congress of commissioners should also have a sort of alter- 
native power given them, to be used only on condition that 
an extra session of Congress passes a force bill under Lin- 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



coin ; and, in that event, to declare our allegiance to the 
Federal Union suspended till such measures are relin- 
quished, and to organize adequate measures of self- 
defence. And this alternative power they should use 
promptly in that event. Meanwhile, each State Legislature 
should diligently provide for self-defence. 

I have thought, ever since the secession movement began 
in South Carolina, that the idea of a tertium quid, or cen- 
tral confederation, as a temporary arrangement, might be 
useful. But this on two conditions : that any attempt or 
diplomatic overtures to construct it should not for a mo- 
ment supersede, but only proceed abreast with, our prepar- 
ations for the dernier resort; and that the border slave 
States should utterly refuse to enter it, except on a basis 
liberal enough to them to assure their interests unques- 
tionably, and, moreover, to disgust New England, and 
prevent her accession to it for a while. 

Once more, we should all remember that America is one 
in race, in geography, in language, in material interests. 
Even if we angrily divide, there will be powerful interests 
drawing us together again, after the wire edge of our spite 
is worn off. Every good man, even after separation seems 
inevitable, should try to act with a view to the speediest 
reunion. 

Such was the cautious, self-restrained attitude of one who 
became a most redoubtable champion of the Confederacy. It 
was the powerful influence of such an element in Virginia 
that restrained its first convention from secession. In a lit- 
tle while all was changed. Virginia seceded with the enthu- 
siastic approbation of this very class. What wrought the 
change ? We will not reply with any word from the South. 
A letter to Dr. Hoge from one of the foremost ministers 
of the North — Northern in ancestry, birth, rearing, and all 
his association — will sufficiently answer. It is dated April 
1 6, 1 86 1, the day after Mr. Lincoln issued his proclamation 
calling for seventy-five thousand troops : 

My Dear Brother : The thing we have feared is upon 
us. The spirit of Cain is rampant, and we seem about to 
plunge headlong into an unnatural and diabolical war. We 



At the Confederate Capital. 143 



may not long have the privilege of even writing to each 
other. An impulse which I cannot resist prompts me to 
salute you in the Lord, and through you any of the pre- 
cious Christian souls who ministered to me and mine in my 
late visit to your city, and who may inquire after me. 

You are right in the impression expressed in your letter 
to the Central Presbyterian, that Virginia has nothing to 
expect by way of conciliation or concession from the 
North. The policy of the administration has evidently been 
coercion and subjugation from the first, and it has so man- 
aged its cards as to throw the appearance of aggression 
upon the Southern States. The war spirit is fearfully 
aroused here, and the fierce demon of religious fanaticism 
breathes out threatening and slaughter. It is not safe even 
for a minister to counsel peace. God help me, for I know 
not what to do or say. There seems to me to be only one 
way to avoid a bloody war in which all we hold dear will 
perish, and which will end, according to the examples of 
history, in anarchy first, and then military despotism ; and 
that is the immediate secession of Virginia and the other 
border States. The hesitancy of the Old Dominion only 
makes her an object of contempt in the eyes of the domi- 
nant party, and encourages the popular belief that the 
South will easily be subdued. Those who have been re- 
garded as soberminded Christian men here talk now about 
wiping out the Southern Confederacy as an easy thing. If 
Virginia would stand up armed and protest against what 
is now the avowed purpose of subjugation, it might stay 
the fratricidal hand, and secure a peaceful separation be- 
tween North and South. It may seem strange to you that 
/ should be in favor of disunion. But, alas ! the Union is 
already dissolved, whatever Mr. Lincoln may choose to 
say. What was once our country is dismembered by the 
blind folly of our rulers, and the only question is, shall we 
separate now in peace, or fight for a generation, and then 
separate. May Virginia, who, in the person of her own 
Washington, once vindicated the right of revolution 
against a government that refused, like ours, to recognize 
facts, do so again; not by an eight-years war, but by 
throwing her proud shield over her younger sisters, and 
saying stand back to those who would wipe them out. If 
she does not secede now, she deserves the subjection that 



144 Moses Drury Hoge. 

awaits her. But I did not intend to write you a political 
harangue. I only wanted to thank you and yours for your 
kindness to me, and to assure you once more that there is 
one on this side of the line who does not think you traitors, 

cowards or fools. Mrs. joins me in kind regards to 

your family. In great sadness, 

Yours in Christ, — 1 

The proclamation had just the effect anticipated by the 
writer of this letter. In an address after the war, Dr. Hoge 
described the scene in the convention the day after it was 
received. 

The morning after it was received it was my office to 
open the session of the convention with prayer. On enter- 
ing the hall, I was immediately impressed with the scene 
presented. None of the members were seated; all were 
standing in scattered groups earnestly discussing some- 
thing. Approaching the member who represented my 
native county of Prince Edward, a man of noble presence 
and rare intelligence, courteous and chivalrous, ever seek- 
ing to know what was true that he might do what was 
right, I asked him what had happened. "Have you not 
heard," he answered, "of Mr. Lincoln's proclamation ?" and 
then proceeded to inform me of its probable effect. Up to 
that day my friend had been an earnest advocate for the 
maintenance of the union of the States ; from that day his 
loyalty found a new centre. When the war commenced, 
Virginia had no more gallant soldier. Like so many of her 
noblest sons, he was as heroic in the field as he had been 
faithful to duty as a civilian until he received his mortal 
wound and was numbered with the brave — 

1 ' Who sink to rest, 
By all their country's wishes blest." 

The gallant Thornton was a type of an uncounted host, 
clinging to the Union with a passionate devotion until the 
imperilled Commonwealth required and received the alle- 
giance of her sons. 

1 The name would add greatly to the strength of the letter, but is 
withheld for obvious reasons. 



At the Confederate Capital. 



145 



The same day Virginia passed the ordinance of secession. 
She had not approved the secession of her Southern sisters. 
She had no wish to separate from the Union herself. She 
knew that her soil would be the battle-ground of the con- 
tending armies. But she had no alternative. She must 
either throw herself in the breach, or join in the subjugation 
of her sister commonwealths, who — wisely or unwisely — 
had asserted what Virginians believed to be their inherent 
right to a separate existence. In such a dilemma she could 
not hesitate ; nor did she. Henceforth, in the minds of her 
sober, Christian men, it was not a question of slavery, of 
secession, or of Union. It was a question of self-defence, 
self-government, and constitutional liberty. 

On June 3, 1861, Dr. Hoge wrote his sister, Mrs. Mar- 
quess : 

My Dear Sister : I do not know how I can gratify you 
more than to write you something about your "bold sol- 
dier boy." 

I saw him mustered into service by the inspector-general 
on the arrival of the company in Richmond, and I was 
present when they marched into the "Camp of Instruction," 
where they are now quartered in their pretty white tents. 
Edgar is the most soldierly looking man in the company — 
erect, tall and martial in his bearing. He and Whitlocke 
Hoge dined with us yesterday after the morning service 
in church. It was a communion season. The Rev. Dr. 
Atkinson preached, and it was an impressive sight to see 
about thirty of his company 1 partake of the Lord's Sup- 
per. At night I preached in camp, where I have volun- 
tarily been acting as chaplain for about five weeks, and 
preaching as often as my other engagements would permit. 
I did not ask such an appointment, but, without my solici- 

1 The students of Hampden-Sidney College volunteered as a com- 
pany, under their President, the Rev. Dr. J. M. P. Atkinson, as 
captain. They were captured in West Virginia, and, on account of their 
youth, released on parole. Subsequently some of them were exchanged 
and re-entered the army. Among these was the Whitlocke Hoge men- 
tioned in the letter, a son of the Dr. Thomas Hoge previously men- 
tioned (page 15). He and his brother were killed in the same battle. 



146 



Moses Drury Hoge, 



tation, the Military Bureau last week gave me a commis- 
sion as chaplain. I hope I shall be stationed at the "Camp 
of Instruction" about two miles from the city, and then I 
shall not be separated from my congregation. I suppose 
Captain Atkinson's company will be stationed there for 
several weeks, and it is not likely that they will be called 
into active service at all, at least not until older and hardier 
companies have all been called into the field. 

With my whole mind and heart I go into the secession 
movement. I think providence has devolved on us the 
preservation of constitutional liberty, which has already 
been trampled under the foot of a military despotism at the 
North. And now that we are menaced with subjugation 
for daring to assert the right of self-government, I con- 
sider our contest as one which involves principles more 
important than those for which our fathers of the Revo- 
lution contended. 

But you have seen a pretty full expression of my views 
in the Central Presbyterian before and since my editorial 
connection with it ended. 

You may rest assured that Edgar shall have all the 
care and attention we can give him during his stay in 
camp. It will give me great pleasure to serve him in 
any way. 

I have fitted up a large tent at the camp and provided it 
with a fine library of books and magazines, as a free 
reading-room for the men. It will afford much pleasure 
particularly to the Hampden-Sidney boys. 

Among Dr. Hoge's papers were found the following 
notes of an address delivered on some Confederate memorial 
occasion. They sum up what has gone before, and introduce 
us to the strenuous and solemn scenes through which we 
must presently follow him : 

Some Characteristics of the Confederate Struggle for 
Independence. 

1. The marked deliberation with which it was under- 
taken. The convention of Virginia opposed to disunion. 
Proofs of this. The ordinance of secession not passed until 
the publication of Lincoln's proclamation calling for 



At the Confederate Capital. 147 



troops. Mr. Preston's speech after the secession of South 
Carolina, heard by the Legislature with respectful atten- 
tion, but followed by no action. 

2. The unity and ardor with which the war was 
waged when it once commenced. Volunteers all over 
the State; university and colleges, even theological 
seminaries, emptied of students. Other evidences of 
enthusiasm. 

3. The sacrifices cheerfully made; the sufferings un- 
complainingly endured as the war progressed. Why such 
sacrifices and sufferings were necessary. Food, medicines, 
clothing, military stores. Constantly diminishing num- 
bers ; no recruits ; no mercenaries employed ; none ob- 
tainable. Effects of the blockade of our ports. 

4. The heroism displayed after defeats. The difficulties 
to be overcome in all departments of business. An impov- 
erished people. The resolution exhibited in rebuilding the 
ruins. The loyalty of Confederate soldiers to their parole. 

5. The intense affection with which the memories of the 
war are cherished. Observances of anniversaries. Holly- 
wood Association. Erection of monuments. Reasons for 
this affection. A war of principle. A defensive war. A 
war in which every family was represented — in which 
nearly every family suffered a bereavement. 

6. The religious element, so pronounced, all-pervading 
and controlling. The religious character of the great 
leaders. The chaplain service. 

The last paragraph gives the key-note to Dr. Hoge's 
life for the next four years. The religious welfare of the 
soldiers was the "all-pervading and controlling" considera- 
tion. Never was a Christian people more - thoroughly 
aroused in a great evangelistic movement than were the 
Christians of the South in their efforts to evangelize the 
army. Churches freely gave up their pastors, and pastors 
joyfully left their comfortable homes, to join in this great 
work, in consequence of which wave after wave of spiritual 
blessing swept through the camps. It was Dr. Hoge's 
wish at first to become chaplain to a regiment, but he was 
persuaded that his position at the centre was of more com- 



148 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



manding influence. We have already seen him in his work 
at the Camp of Instruction, afterwards known as "Camp 
Lee." A greater opportunity seldom came to man, and he 
improved it with all the energy of his soul. It is estimated 
that during this service he preached to over a hundred thou- 
sand men. It was almost like preaching to an army from 
the wayside as they marched past. The men before him one 
Sunday would by the next be on the march or in the field. 
Impressions, if made at all, must be made quickly. There 
was no time to lay foundations, or to prepare the ground for 
seed-sowing. The truth must be like their own shots — 
quick, vivid, unerring. Dr. Hoge's habitual readiness 
and power of adaptation made him the very man for this 
kind of preaching. Then, like all army preaching, it was 
very solemn work. We glibly say, "In the midst of life we 
are in death," but it was very different to face men who were 
in jeopardy every hour; whom no bloom of youth, no vigor 
of constitution, no care or prudence, could insure against the 
pestilence that walked in darkness or the destruction that 
wasted at noonday. But in those congregations there was 
not only the solemnity of danger to be incurred, but of duty 
to be done — duty that must be performed in spite of danger 
and in the face of death. These two thoughts were the 
dominant notes in the preaching of the Confederate chap- 
lains — the grace of Christ to strengthen in the hour of duty 
and to save in the hour of death. 

To this service Dr. Hoge gave every Sunday afternoon, 
Dr. Moore taking the afternoon service at his church, 
and he preaching for Dr. Moore in the evening. He also 
preached in the camp at least twice during the week. 
But the public services were not all; he had the interests 
of the men on his heart to such a degree that, in spite of 
their great multitude, they looked upon him as a personal 
friend — quick to sympathize, ready to help. Nor did he 
hesitate to rebuke ; and he had that quick wit that made his 
rebukes stick while his friendliness took away the sting. 



At the Confederate Capital. 149 



Standing once with a group of soldiers, some of whom did 
not know him, at a point which overlooked the camp of the 
enemy, he heard one of them say, "I wish all the Yankees 

were in h ." He spoke up, "Would you not as soon see 

them sent to heaven?" "No, I wish they were all in h ." 

"Oh !"said the Doctor, "I thought you would probably prefer 
them to be where there would be less probability of your 
meeting them/' The roar of laughter from his comrades 
drove home the rebuke to his profanity. 

The spiritual fruits of this work can never be told this side 
eternity. But all through life Dr. Hoge was meeting 
these men and receiving expressions of their gratitude; 
sometimes in singular ways. Once, long after the war, he 
was looking at a horse that he thought of buying at a livery 
stable in Baltimore. One of the bystanders — there are 
always bystanders at a horse trade — closed one eye and 
jerked his thumb over his shoulder, as an intimation to him 
to follow. "I don't like to interfere in a horse trade," he 
began, "but I can't stand by and see you imposed on." He 
proceeded to describe some unsoundness in the animal. "But 
w T hy do you do this for me?" said Dr. Hoge; "what do 
you know about me?" "Why, ain't you Dr. Hoge? I 
reckon I've heard you preach at Camp Lee too many times 
not to know you." 

Another of Dr. Hoge's regular public services was the 
honorary chaplaincy of Congress. As it was not an official 
appointment, there appeared in one of the papers an envious 
little squib, criticising him for monopolizing this service. It 
promptly called forth from Vice-President Stephens a reply, 
stating that he had been so annoyed by the difficulties and 
irregularities of the system of rotation which he had first 
tried, that he had asked Dr. Hoge, who could always be 
depended upon, to take it regularly, and that he had con- 
sented very reluctantly to do so. 

But these public duties were a small part of the additional 
cares and activities that devolved upon him from his position 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



at the Confederate Capital. Richmond was filling up with 
prominent men from all parts of the South to whom atten- 
tion had to be shown. Letters from all parts of the country 
appealed to him to look after sons, husbands, brothers; to 
visit them in sickness, or to give information about them 
when not heard from. Bereavements came thick and fast to 
his own people and to countless strangers and visitors who 
turned to him in their sorrow. He was constantly consulted 
about the chaplain service ; his influence continually sought 
by persons seeking civil office to support themselves or their 
loved ones in these trying times. Now a man unfit for ser- 
vice was conscripted, and he would save a valuable citizen 
by getting him transferred. His letters take us into the very 
heart of these times. To his brother (December 17, 1861) : 

When you saw something of my manner of life in former 
days, you thought me a busy man, but I am now the most 
pressed, the most beset and bothered brother you ever had. 

My six sermons a week, and funerals extra, might fill 
up all my time reasonably well, with pastoral visits thrown 
in to fill up the chinks, but this is only the beginning of 
Iliad. I have opened Congress every day this session, with 
the exception of two occasions, when I was preaching 
funeral sermons, and to-day, when Mrs. Brown was in 
pressing need of an editorial. And then the company ! I 
sometimes feel as if company was a curse. I am really 
ashamed of myself when I meet on the streets with persons 
who have claims on my hospitality, and with whom I 
would be delighted to have intercourse, whom I do not 
invite to my house because 1 dare not give them just the- 
time which even sensible people, ready to make allowances, 
would require on the part of a host. 

Then so many people seeking office, or seeking employ- 
ment, come to me, and so many write, asking me to get 
them passports or do something for them in some of the 
departments. You need not say, "Why do you attend to* 
these things to the neglect, perhaps, of others more im- 
portant? Why be worried by these numberless vexations, 
instead of resolutely turning away from everything except 
your own appropriate work?" Simply because I cannot^ 



At the Confederate Capital. 151 

These interruptions are inevitable, and much of this extra 
office and job and commission (without pay) work, I 
ought to do for the sake of common humanity. A dis- 
charged soldier, knowing no one else in the city, writes to 
me to get his pay; a wife, separated from her husband, 
writes, begging me to get her a permit to pass through 
the lines and go to him; an exile, driven by the enemy 
from his home, writes, asking if I can assist him in getting 
a position where he can make bread for his destitute fam- 
ily ; and as sure as I shut myself up in my study, and reso- 
lutely refuse to open, no matter who knocks, then some one 
calls who ought to have been admitted. So life passes, and 
you may moralize and give sage advice, but if you were in 
my position these war times, you would do just as I do — 
only you would do some things a great deal better. 

His brother replied (January 13, 1862) : 

Your last letter changed my views not a little as to the 
propriety of your suffering so many extra-ministerial 
duties to fall upon you. I am sure you have many imperti- 
nent interruptions; that many secular things are left to 
you, or rather forced upon you, which properly belong to 
others ; but I am sure you have been made eyes to the 
blind, feet to the lame, a consolation to the stranger, the 
friendless and the bereaved, and a blessing to him that was 
ready to perish ; and all this not merely as the gospel 
preacher, but the patient, interrupted, toiling man. God 
knows better than we do where we can serve him and how. 
I will leave you to his guidance, and beset you no more 
with my "lecturing." I wish I had more of your capacity 
for labor. My opinion of myself and what I accomplish is 
low indeed, I assure you. 

Again he writes his brother (February 17, 1862) : 

Life, of late, has been all work and no play with me. 
The number of soldiers in the Camp of Instruction having 
been much reduced, I have been preaching the last three 
Sunday afternoons to the Fourteenth Alabama Regiment 
near the Reservoir. Our camp will soon fill up, and I shall 
return there again. Last week I enclosed three hundred 
dollars, the amount of my pay as chaplain for six months, 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



to the Secretary of War, requesting him to appropriate it 
to the use of our soldiers in whatever part of the field he 
thought it would be most acceptable. He returned me a 
very polite letter in answer, and said that after consulta- 
tion with the Quartermaster-General and the Surgeon- 
General, he had concluded to apply it to the purchase of 
additional comforts for the sick soldiers at Manassas, 
hoping that I would approve of that disposition of my 
liberal gift, etc., etc. 

I thus accomplish a double and desired purpose, that of 
preaching to the troops, and of making a pecuniary con- 
tribution to the brave fellows who are fighting for me. I 
think I can do more in this way than by fighting myself, 
though at times I have an almost resistless inclination to 
go into the ranks. 

About a fortnight ago I received a very pleasant letter 
from Dabney. He was then at Bowling Green, and wrote 
very hopefully both as to himself and as to the army there. 
He bears all his afflictions and personal privations with an 
equanimity and Christian fortitude very beautiful to con- 
template. 

My church is crowded every Sunday. At our last com- 
munion I received eleven new members on certificate and 
examination, and hope to receive as many more at the 
next. I am truly gratified to learn that you have so much 
to encourage and make you happy in your present field of 
labor. If the University only had its usual number of stu- 
dents, the position would be one of the very finest in the 
South. As it is, it is a very attractive one. 

The " Dabney " referred to in this letter was the Rev. 
Dabney Carr Harrison, Dr. William Hoge's brother-in- 
law. On the death of his brother, Lieutenant Peyton Harri- 
son, who was killed at Manassas, he raised a company, of 
which he was made captain, and volunteered for service. He 
was mortally wounded at Fort Donelson, and died in Nash- 
ville. He had just written his brother-in-law, after speaking 
of his abiding sense of loss in his brother's death, "I am not 
sad; even now, when deprived of my precious wife and little 
ones. But I feel as if I would rather be serious the rest of 
my life." 



At the Confederate Capital. 153 



Dr. William Hoge prepared a sketch of his life, which 
was widely circulated in the army. The Southern General 
Assembly had placed its Publication Committee at Rich- 
mond, and this little tract was the first issued from its press. 
It is to this that Dr. Hoge alludes in his next letter to his 
brother. He was about to publish a tribute himself when 
lie learned his brother's intention. Apart from the personal 
reference, the letter is useful as showing the religious work 
in the camp. 

To his brother (March 26, 1862) : 

I wished chiefly to dwell on his soldierly devotion to 
duty, and his Christian activity while he was in the Camp 
of Instruction. There I saw him almost daily for three 
months or more. It was owing to his agency that a Chris- 
tian Association was formed in the regiment and com- 
pletely organized for every species of usefulness. There 
was a Bible-class, a Sabbath-school, and arrangements 
made even for teaching those who were unable to read, 
and I selected the Pictorial Primer of the Tract Society 
for that purpose. He rendered me most efficient aid in 
my work as chaplain during his stay in camp. He held 
prayers every evening in my large tent for several weeks, 
for the benefit not only of his company, but for all who 
wished to attend. He interested himself in getting the men 
together on Sabbath afternoons, and this increased the 
attendance on my regular services, and in every way in 
his power he gave me his efficient cooperation. The influ- 
ence of his presence and example in the camp during these 
months will never be fully appreciated until the day of final 
revelation. If you have not completed your tract, I wish 
you would dwell a little on these facts, and give my testi- 
mony to his most valuable aid in my efforts to promote 
the temporal and spiritual welfare of the large number of 
men who were then gathered in the Camp of Instruction, 
and in so doing, give the testimony in your own way and 
in language better chosen and more forcible than mine. 1 

1 At his brother's request he afterwards wrote a fuller statement, that 
was published in the sketch. 



T54 Moses Drury Hoge. 

I am sorry to say that I have not been in my usual health, 
for the past two weeks. I have a feeling of weariness most 
of the time, which oppresses me, together with some palpi- 
tation of the heart. Last Monday was a very blue day. 
On Saturday, at four p. m v I had a funeral sermon to 
preach in my church. On Sunday I preached there at 
eleven o'clock a. m., and in camp at three p. m., out in the 
open air, with a cold, raw wind blowing hard on my un- 
covered head, and then again in Dr. Moore's church at 
night. All four of these sermons were delivered without 
the aid of a manuscript or note, and that kind of preach- 
ing is generally more exhausting. A good deal of my time 
is taken up by having so constantly to open the deliberative 
bodies here with prayer. The time actually spent in that 
exercise is nothing, but having to go and return to the 
Capitol at 12 m., cuts into the heart of every day, and 
when there I am often tempted to stay, during the interest- 
ing discussions in progress. My loss of time amounts in 
this way to an average of an hour a day, and thirty hours 
a month counts up during a congressional term. I have 
acquired an unfortunate popularity for prayer-making in 
these bodies, chiefly, no doubt, because I do not try to be 
eloquent, as so many ministers do on these occasions, and 
more especially because my prayers are uniformly short, 
containing, I suppose, about ten petitions, or sentences, as 
appropriately arranged as I can make them. 

As the spring advanced, Richmond, which had seen much 
of the pomp and circumstance of war, was to have all its 
horrors unrolled before its eyes. A letter to his eldest daugh- 
ter (May 15, 1862) displays his penetration in military mat- 
ters, and shows the advance of the coming storm : 

You ask why the Merrimac was destroyed. Probably 
you have already seen a solution of the matter in the news- 
papers. After the evacuation of Norfolk by our army, it 
became necessary to make some disposition of the Merri- 
mac. They ought to have dared all hazards, and run her 
round into York river, but they preferred to send her up 
the James. She drew twenty-two feet of water, and to 
lighten her, coal, etc., was taken off. This raised her 
wooden underworks above the water line, making her vul- 



At the Confederate Capital. 



155 



nerable. as any other vessel not plated would have been. 
But she still drew seventeen feet of water, and the pilot 
said she could not cross the bars. It was then impossible 
to send her into the York river in her exposed condition, 
her wood showing between the iron plating and the water, 
and accordingly she was blown into a thousand fragments, 
and so perished the naval glory of the Confederacy, after 
effecting a revolution in the naval history of the world. 1 

I think there have been tremendous blunders committed. 
Norfolk should not have been evacuated, nor the Merrimac 
destroyed, until after the battle which McClellan would 
have been compelled to fight on the Chickahominy. If we 
had defeated him there, it would not have been necessary to 
have abandoned Norfolk, nor have blown up the Merrimac. 

If we had been defeated, then that desertion and de- 
struction might have followed. But as it was, we did not 
wait to see what our land forces could do. but annihilated 
our own tower of strength and demolished the Norfolk 
Navy-yard : thus opening a path to the enemy to Rich- 
mond on his favorite element, the water. But notwith- 
standing our imbecility, God is good to us. I wrote you 
that the attack on our river barricades had commenced ; 
later news has come informing us that one of the enemy's 
gunboats, the Galena, has been set on fire, and that all of 
them had retired. So we have a breathing time allowed 
us. They will doubtless return again, but in the mean- 
while we will be strengthening our river defences, and be 
ready for them, as I trust, the next time they come up. 

As the peril to Richmond increased, his brother wrote 
(May 28, 1862) : 

Of course, the state of our country and the present peril 
of our beautiful Capital lie heavily on my heart. I rejoice 
in Jackson's victories, and feel like reviving the old cry, 
"Hurrah for Jackson!" I rejoice, too, to learn of the new 
and resolute spirit that animates our troops near Rich- 
mond. O may God keep them firm, and make them vic- 
torious with a great victory, and. above all. give our people 
that temper, which I fear has thus far been lacking, the 

1 A remark very frequently made since, and more abundantly justified 
even- year, but it is surprising to find it in a contemporary letter. 



156 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



temper without which victory would be a curse. This is 
our grand need, and when we have it, I believe whatever 
else we need will quickly come. 

On May 3 1 st, Dr. Hoge wrote his brother : 

Susan and the children went to Prince Edward last 
week. She was very anxious to remain and assist in nurs- 
ing the sick and wounded soldiers, but both Lacy and 
Moses were attacked with sickness, and she hurried to 
the country. Thirty-five of the sick from Ashland have 
been staying in my lecture-room this week; this morning 
they were removed to a large hospital, and now the work 
of cleaning up after them is to commence. 

One poor fellow died in the lecture-room yesterday. 

But for the tremendous rainstorm we had yesterday 
afternoon, saturating the ground and swelling the streams, 
I suppose the general engagement all along the lines would 
have commenced this morning. 

I had my first sight of the enemy day before yesterday. 
I rode down toward Mechanicsville as far as our last 
pickets. The enemy's pickets were about five hundred 
yards distant, in full view. On the hill above, I could see 
their cannon, some cavalry, and their battle flag (white 
field, red star in the centre) . It gave me new indignation to 
see them walking and riding about in a locality with which 
I was so familiar. McClellan has his headquarters at my 
friend Webb's (Hampstead). 

There is no panic among our people. Resistance to the 
death is the calm determination of the citizens, and our 
soldiers are confident of victory. This is Saturday, and I 
have neither text chosen for my sermons to-morrow, so I 
can only add that I am 

Your affectionate brother, M. D. H. 

History was too busy with other matters that day to 
record how those sermons were prepared. Ready they 
doubtless were ; but smelling more of gunpowder, one would 
think, than of the lamp. Before they were preached he had 
seen war in its awful reality. Much has been written of that 
day's battle from the military standpoint. Dr. Hoge de- 
scribes it from the human standpoint : 



At the Confederate Capital. 



157 



The Battle of Seven Pines. 

Copied by a friend from notes prepared immediately after my return 
from the battle-Held.— M. D. H. 

Although in the following narrative there may be no- 
thing worthy of preservation, yet, while the incidents are 
fresh in my recollection, I will record them, as they may, 
at some future time, be more interesting in the review than 
they are in the present perusal. 

On Saturday evening, May 31, 1862, Colonel B. S. Ewell 
and I set off on horseback for the field of action, being 
assured that a battle had commenced by the booming of 
cannon, which could be distinctly heard from the city every 
few moments. 

On Friday evening, there was a thunderstorm of several 
hours' duration, attended by a rain so heavy as to raise the 
creeks over their banks and deluge the flat lands over 
which we passed. Very soon after we ascended Fulton 
Hill, we saw crowds of citizens thronging the road — 
some on foot, some on horseback and others in vehicles 
of every description, many of them stationary, collected 
in groups, and others hastening toward the scene of con- 
flict. 

A large crowd occupied the road and fields near where 
the first pickets were stationed, being refused permission 
to pass. Colonel Ewell and myself were halted for a 
moment, but he showed his permit to pass the lines, and I 
the pass Mr. Ewell had procured for me from General 
Magruder, and we were allowed to go on. 

Very soon we came in sight of regiments and artillery 
companies hastening forward to the scene of conflict. Part 
of the time we kept in the road, one-third of which was 
under water, occasionally riding out into the field, with the 
hope of getting along faster, but the ground was so rough 
and marshy that we found it desirable to keep as much as 
possible in the road, bad as it was. 

We halted a moment at a building about two miles this 
side of the battle-field, where we saw a great number of 
our wounded — which had been brought and laid, some of 
them on the floor, and others on the ground around the 
house — our surgeons standing over them with bloody 
hands and knives, busy in making amputations, in band- 
aging up wounds, etc. Before reaching this building, we 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



saw many of our men wounded, yet able to walk, stag- 
gering on toward the city ; others were conveyed on horse- 
back, in ambulances, or in litters, carried by their comrades. 
Some of these men were groaning, others seemed ready to 
faint with pain or loss of blood, while others trudged along 
with great sang froid. 

We also were met by squads of prisoners, coming in 
under guard. One of the first we met was a solitary 
prisoner, an Irishman, whose escort stopped for some rea- 
son in a field by the roadside. 

Paddy was talking and gesticulating in an animated 
manner, and as we came up, Colonel Ewell asked him if 
the Yankees were retreating at the time he was taken. He 
answered very promptly, "When you get down to the Held, 
you can find out for yourself." Said I, "My friend, what 
is your opinion about it?" He touched his hat in a most 
comical manner, and made me a bow, as much as to say, 
"This is a lemon you can't squeeze." He seemed as reso- 
lute and defiant as a man could be, and not a bit intimidated 
or cast down by his capture. 

Presently we met a gang of about a hundred prisoners, 
hurried along toward the town. We noticed their quick, 
springy step, as they filed past us. The Northern troops 
are probably better disciplined than ours, and they are 
naturally quicker in their movements, and these men 
seemed to march with a more military air than our own 
soldiers who were guarding them. 

We reined up our horses to take a good look at them. 
They probably took us for officers, and a great many of 
them touched their caps as they passed. I said to one, as 
they went by, "You are prisoners, but you will be treated 
well." Said he, "Thank you for that, sir." 

As the last of the number went by, one of our citizens 
began shaking his fist at them, cursing and abusing them 
in a most vulgar manner. I asked him if he was a soldier, 
and on his replying that he was not, I told him that the 
best way of showing his hatred of the enemy was to fight 
them in the ranks, and not to abuse them when in our 
power. One of his comrades said he thought so too, and 
the man looked crest-fallen at the rebuke. 

We overtook many citizens and government officials as 
we rode on. Among others, Captain Woods, on a fine 



At the Confederate Capital. 



159 



horse ; Captain Alexander, of Missouri ; Captain Hardee, 
Secretary Mallory, Colonel Morton, of Culpeper; Bassett 
French, Mr. Cabell, Commissary-General Northrup, and 
others, though few of them went as far toward the en- 
trenchments as we did. As we came nearer, the booming 
of the cannon and the roll of musketry became tremendous, 
and the road getting more and more miry, we struck out, 
and made a detour through a body of woods to the left of 
the battle-ground. Here we began to see dead men scat- 
tered about, lying in various positions, some almost doubled 
up, some on their backs, and others on their faces. 

We overtook two or three men on horseback in the 
woods, looking, as they said, for the wounded. We found 
the thickets so close that it was difficult to get along ; and. 
as the enemy were shelling that body of woods, and 
smashing the trees, we found our position so uncomfort- 
able that we struck out toward the road again, still moving 
diagonally toward it. When Ave emerged, we were in full 
view of the battle. The smoke was so thick that we could 
not see the enemy, but our own men were in the act of 
pressing on and driving the enemy back as we approached. 
Here I saw the first skulkers, and these. I am glad to say, 
were few. They were lying flat on the ground, behind 
logs or stumps, and farther on I saw a group who had 
taken refuge behind a chimney, or ruin of an old house. 
Some of those nearest to us cried out, "Don't attempt to 
cross that field, gentlemen : it is too dangerous." We soon 
had evidence of the fact, for a bullet whizzed by me, and 
struck a tree behind me. Mr. Ewell was a little in advance, 
and he told me that a ball so nearly tipped the end of his 
nose that he involuntarily put his hand to feel if a part of 
it had not been snapped off. The shells were screaming 
through the air, and the minie-balls making the peculiar 
zee-ee-etj which renders their music more memorable than 
agreeable. 

A spent ball struck my horse in the flank and made him 
jump around in a very lively style. Crossing over into the 
road, I found Captain Alexander and young Webb. Cap- 
tain Alexander told me my horse was wounded, and, look- 
ing down, I saw the ground was bloody under him. I dis- 
mounted, but finding the skin unbroken, I saw that it must 
have come from some other source — from the body of one 



6o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of our brave boys, I fear. Riding along, I saw a man? 
trying to get away from the field a youth apparently not 
more than sixteen years old, shot through the thigh, and 
the bone broken. Said the man, "For God's sake, Mister, 
let this boy have your horse!" I dismounted, took his 
gun (the ramrod of which had been lost) and his oil-cloth, 
and waded through the mud and water for about a mile, 
till we came to some ambulances. 

There was some difficulty in finding room for him, and 
he asked to be taken off from the horse and laid on the 
ground, as he was very sick at the stomach. We laid him 
down until we succeeded in finding a place for him in one 
of the ambulances, which was waiting for a load. Seeing 
a bayonet on the roadside, I picked it up, and stuck it in 
my saddle-girth; it was covered with blood, whether 
Northern or Southern I do not know. 

In one of the long water reaches, I saw two men on 
horseback supporting a third, who was also mounted, and 
who seemed to be desperately wounded. His head had 
fallen back, and his mouth was wide open. He looked 
more like a corpse than a living man. As they floundered 
along through the water, a negro boy, apparently about 
eighteen years old, riding and leading another horse, looked 
at the group with a face full of horror and astonishment, 
until he broke out in a lamentable cry, "Oh! that's my 
Mass' Eldridge" (I thought that was the name), and be- 
gan to follow the men, when one of them cried out, "Go 
back, boy; it is not your Mass' Eldridge; he is on the 
field. Carry his horse to him." But the boy still cried 
aloud, "Oh ! it is my Mass' Eldridge." I rode up to him and 
said, "Come with me ; we will overtake them, and you shall 
see whether it is your master or not." Calling to the men 
to stop, they halted a moment, and again ordering the boy 
back, I told them I had brought him up, and I asked them 
to let him take a good look at the man, and satisfy himself 
whether it was his master or not. They consented, and 
the faithful negro, after gazing on the wounded man with 
a look of the intensest eagerness, found at last that he was 
mistaken and went back. The scene was one of the most 
affecting I witnessed ; the plaints of the wounded did not 
touch my heart more than the wailing of the attached ser- 
vant — inconsolable, until he was convinced of his mistake. 



At the Confederate Capital. 161 

Several regiments of reinforcements passed, hurrying on 
to the scene of strife. Sitting on my horse at the roadside, 
and facing them as they came on, I was astonished at the 
number of the men who recognized me with salutations 
and exclamations, "What, Mr. Hoge, you here!" Many 
asked me how the battle was going. At my answer, "Suc- 
cessful all along the line, the enemy falling back every- 
where; make haste, boys, or you will be too late to share 
in the victory!" they would cheer and press on with a 
quicker step. It helps men to be able to go in cheerily to 
battle. I hope I was able to give our brave fellows a little 
encouragement and animation. 

I rejoined Mr. Ewell again, and we sat listening to the 
tremendous fire which had opened on our left. This we 
afterwards learned was on the " Nine-Mile Road," as it is 
called, where the enemy had strongly entrenched on a 
wooded hill, protected by a ditch and hedge, concealing 
them from view. They were furiously attacked by General 
Whiting's division, composed of his own brigade, Hood's 
Texas brigade, Pettigru's of South Carolina, Hatton's, and 
Colonel Hampton's brigade. 

It was now nearly dark, but the firing was tremendous. 
The musketry was not of the popping order, but regular 
and long-continued rolls, sounding very much like a tor- 
nado sweeping through a forest. This was the most terrific 
firing I had heard during, the day ; but while we listened, 
it suddenly ceased entirely. Night had come, and it was 
evident that the combat was over. I told Mr. Ewell that 
if it was not taxing his time and patience too far, I wished 
him to ride with me back to the entrenchments to see how 
things looked at the close of the engagements. He con- 
sented, and we kept on till we reached the enemy's camp. 
There I learned that General D. H. Hill was making him- 
self comfortable, having taken possession of everything. 
Dismounting, I gave my horse to Mr. Ewell, and got over 
the fence, and crossed the field until I came to the tent 
where General Hill was. He was standing outside, near 
a camp-fire, talking to an officer. 

My interview with him was quite amusing at the begin- 
ning. Said I, "Good evening, General !" Without looking 
at me, he gruffly answered, "Wait, I can't talk to but one 
man at a time." "Who wants you talk to more than one at 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



a time?" I responded. Presently he turned to me and 
said, "Now, what do you want? What you have to say, 
say quick." I replied, "I shall say what I want to say at 
my leisure." He looked at me keenly to see who was so 
impudent, when, recognizing me, he gave me a cordial 
welcome, and asked me to come into the tent. He told me 
he wished I had come sooner, as he had been in great want 
of aides, and would have given me something to do. I told 
him I was sorry I had not brought his little boy's ambro- 
type, which had been sent to my care, but would have done 
so had I expected to meet him on the field. He then took 
out two little ambrotypes of his daughters, which he said 
he had worn next to his heart. The floor of the tent was 
covered with papers. I brought some of them home with 
me, thinking they might prove interesting, but they were 
all surgeons' reports, and it was a surgeon's tent in which 
we were. As a relic, I brought away a small portfolio, and 
one or two other trifles. The General said they had no- 
thing to eat, their stores all having been saturated with 
the rain of the previous day. I promised on my return to 
town to send him something to eat, and would if possible 
get a wagon off immediately after reaching the city. It 
was then about nine or half-past nine o'clock, and we 
started back. 

Passing the temporary hospital near the roadside, I beg- 
ged Mr. Ewell to wait until .1 could go in and take a look 
at the condition of things there. It was a spectacle at 
which angels might weep ! No one knows what war is 
who has not seen military hospitals ; not of the sick only, 
but of the cut, maimed and mutilated in all the ways in 
which the human body can be dishonored and disfigured. 
Inside the building, on the floor, the men lay so thick that 
it was difficult to walk without stepping on them. I asked 
one of the surgeons if it would be proper for me to offer 
prayer with the men. He said, "Certainly," if I wished it. 
Accordingly, I got into the middle of the room, took off 
my hat, and said, "My friends, I am a minister residing in 
Richmond ; I wish I could be of some use and comfort to 
you ; but I know not what I can do for you, unless it would 
be agreeable to you for me to offer a short prayer for 
you. W ould you like me to do so ?" "Yes, sir ; yes, sir ; 
if you please, sir," was the response all around. I kneeled 



At the Confederate Capital. 163 

down and prayed God to comfort them, give them patience 
under their sufferings, spare their lives, bless those dear 
to them, and sanctify to them their present trials. To 
these petitions some of them audibly responded, and it 
was affecting to observe that even their groans were to a 
great degree suppressed, and a quiet maintained beyond 
what I supposed possible during the prayer. 

On our ride back to town, the scene which the road pre- 
sented was one never to be forgotten. Artillery and bag- 
gage-wagons were coming out, while ambulances, hacks, 
buggies, and persons on horseback, and hundreds on foot, 
were going in. These, meeting in narrow places, blocked 
up the way. Omnibuses and other heavy vehicles were 
fast stuck in the mud, which the drivers were trying to 
prize out ; and in the midst of the noise and confusion the 
groans of wounded men, jolted and jerked about, could be 
heard everywhere. 

I was glad when the first gas-lights of the city came in 
view, fatigued as I was, covered w T ith mud, and wet from 
wading through the swampy road after I gave up my 
horse to the wounded boy. I went immediately to the 
War Office, and found Secretary Randolph still in his 
office, but just ready to go to his house. I gave him some 
account of what I had seen, and asked him if General Hill 
could get a supply of provisions that night. Just then 
Major Ruffin, the assistant commissary, came in. He 
promised to dispatch a wagon load of provisions at once. 
I then knocked up J. B. Watkins, who had gone to bed, 
and got him to promise to send another load early in the 
morning. 

On reaching home, I found good Susan standing in the 
front door, watching and waiting for me. She was 
anxious for my return, but not alarmed, as some women 
would have been — knowing I had gone to the battle-field. 
Had I not returned during the night, she would have been 
satisfied that I remained because I saw some opportunity 
of being useful. 

It was a great advantage to have gone with Colonel 
Ewell. He went to the field to look for General Johnston, 
intending to offer his services as aide. We could not find 
him; but, in looking for him, I saw more and exposed 
myself more than I would have done had I gone alone. It 



164 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



was not as exciting to be on a battle-field as I had antici- 
pated. I think it produces about as much awe as one feels 
in a heavy thunderstorm — certainly not more. 

Dr. Hoge describes the battle as a Confederate victory. 
He tells what he saw. The result was really indecisive, and 
the victory was claimed by both sides. The Prince de Join- 
ville says : "Night put an end to the battle. On both sides 
nothing was known of the result of the battle but what each 
one had seen with his own eyes." 

The next morning the conflict was renewed, but without 
the skilful guidance of the Confederate commander who had 
planned it. General Johnston, for whom Colonel Ewell 
and Dr. Hoge had searched in vain, had been severely 
wounded. Very solemn must have been the preaching that 
day in the churches of Richmond with the noise of the battle 
that might decide its fate reverberating in the distance ; and 
very earnest must have been the prayers for the wounded 
General, the soldiers at the front, and the suffering men in 
the crowded hospitals. 

On June 24th, Dr. Hoge wrote his wife : 

On Sunday, I preached in "the lines" on the "Nine-Mile 
Road." Howell Cobb and Thomas Cobb have their regi- 
ments near together, and Mr. Flinn and Mr. Porter united 
their congregations for my benefit. 

Colonel Ewell went with me, and we had a pleasant time. 
After service we dined in camp. The day was very hot; 
the ride to and from town was over twelve miles, the way 
we went, and I got back just in time to get to Camp Lee 
for my afternoon discourse. There I had a large congrega- 
tion, for two regiments had just come in. When I returned 
home, I was thoroughly fatigued, with a pain in my head 
from riding in the hot sun. My horse was very tired also 
from having had nothing to eat since early in the morning. 
But we both recruited on Monday, and to-day Colonel 
Ewell and I paid General Hill a visit, and took dinner with 
him in his camp. I also called on General Garland, whose 
camp is about a quarter of a mile from General Hill's. 



At the Confederate Capital. 165 



I hope this life out of doors will improve me. If it 
does not, I do not know what will. 

The town is now all excitement in anticipation of the 
battle which is expected to come off to-morrow or next 
day. Jackson and Ewell are said to be in Hanover, ready 
to strike McClellan's army in the flank. 

The conflict will be tremendous, but I have no fears as to 
the result. 

I think we will utterly rout our enemies, by the blessing 
of God, and relieve Richmond of its long suspense, and of 
the burden of having two such vast armies in its vicinity, 
consuming everything there is to eat. Should the tide of 
battle go against us, I mean to fall back with the army, 
and I think I will join Hill's division, either as aide or 
chaplain, or both. But if the battle is well managed by 
our leaders, I have no fears as to the result. 

All my concern is for the multitude who must fall, and 
for the number of the wounded who will crowd our houses 
and hospitals. 

Before another Sunday comes I think the fate of Rich- 
mond will be decided. 

I enclose for Lacy his favorite story of "Zeke" I fancy 
him now, standing by you, his mouth open and his eyes 
glistening. He will make you read it to him every day. 
I will soon send him another. I hope little Moses still 
improves. It gives me great pleasure to hear that Bess 
and Mary are so happy in their studies, rides and visits. 
We will all enjoy home when we get together once more. 

We get on very pleasantly in our household affairs. Mrs. 
Brown forgets nothing, omits nothing. 

The remarkable elasticity of Dr. Hoge's mind is illus- 
trated in his ability to turn from the most solemn and 
harassing cares to the lighter vein of a child's thoughts and 
interests. "Zeke" was a hero whose wonderful adventures, 
and hair-breadth escapes, multiplied at will, gave intermina- 
ble delight to the little ones. 

Two days later the "Seven Days" fighting began, result- 
ing finally in the withdrawing of McClellan and the present 
relief of Richmond. 

On Sunday, July 13th, a stranger slipped quietly into 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Dr. Hoge's church, and at its close slipped out unob- 
served. It was the first appearance in Richmond, after his 
great campaigns, of the then most famous living soldier, 
Stonewall Jackson, who wrote his wife of the comfort and 
privilege of a quiet Sabbath once more in the house of God. 
About this time he gave Dr. Hoge this remarkable order : 

Headquarters, Valley District, Near Richmond. 

Permit the bearer, the Rev. Moses D. Hoge, to pass at 
pleasure from Richmond to any part of my command. 

T. J. Jackson, Major-General. 

The exhausting labors of the spring and summer brought 
on a severe attack of illness in September. He went for 
awhile to Prince Edward to recuperate, but failing to im- 
prove he returned home, finding himself more comfortable 
in his own spacious rooms. 

Shortly before the war he had moved into the large house 
adjoining his church — previously mentioned as built by 
Major Gibbon — and here he lived for the remainder of his 
life. After Dr. Brown purchased the Central Presby- 
terian, he came to live with Dr. Hoge. At this time all 
of Dr. Hoge's family were away, and Mrs. Brown kept 
the house. Never did a man have a more devoted friend, and 
there never lived a more efficient woman. Dr. Hoge used 
to say that had she had charge of the commissary, General 
Lee's army would never have lacked and never surrendered. 

During his illness he wrote his brother : 

This confinement to my chamber when there is so much 
work to do is good discipline to my impatient spirit. I 
have much to be thankful for, especially for the kindness 
my people have shown me. I have been honored, too, by 
some distinguished visitors. Vice-President Stephens has 
frequently been to see me, and this morning General Jo- 
seph E. Johnston came and sat an hour with me. He is 
every inch a soldier, and a noble-hearted man. I don't say 
he is the best, but he is one of the most lovable of our 
generals. 



At the Confederate Capital. 167 

General Johnston was born in Prince Edward, very near 
Dr. Hoge's birthplace, and they continued friends until 
the General's death, when Dr. Hoge paid a noble tribute 
to his memory. Colonel Ewell 1 was another friend of his 
Prince Edward days, having been a professor at Hampden- 
Sidney while he was at the Theological Seminary. His 
daughter become almost a member of Dr. Hoge's family, 
and his brother, General Ewell, an intimate friend and con- 
stant visitor. Mr. Stephens spent many quiet evenings at 
Dr. Hoge's, to the great interest of the whole family; "in 
the midst of a face of parchment, all the vitality of his 
brain would glow in his eyes, which shone like coals of fire 
when speaking on some subject of importance." Colonel 
Lamar spent months as a guest at Dr. Hoge's, who thus knew 
him under all the varying shades of his highly emotional 
nature. During the sessions of Congress, Judge James M. 
Baker, of Florida, was a resident in his house; a devoted 
Presbyterian elder and a man of the highest dignity of char- 
acter. Secretary Seddon was another warm friend, who 
afterwards showed Dr. Hoge extraordinary kindness. With 
Mr. Davis and all his Cabinet he was on the most cordial 
terms; but these, with Mr. Benjamin, were among his 
most intimate friends. General Jackson when in Richmond 
was a member of his congregation, and Dr. Hoge's house 
was like a home to him and his wife. It was there that she 
learned of the General's wound. With General Lee his 
friendship was close and personal, and grew until the great 
chieftain finished his course. 

Character developed and revealed itself in times like these, 
and souls were welded together in the fiery trial as is seldom 
possible in the more conventional relations of peaceful times, 
and, to his dying day, Dr. Hoge cherished among the most 
grateful memories of his life his association with these great 
souls. 

1 Afterwards president of William and Mary College. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Mission to England. 
1863. 

"And then consider the great historical fact that, for three centuries, this 
book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in English 
history. " — Huxley. 

"There is but one book." — Sir Walter Scott. 

IMPORTANT as the services of Dr. Hoge had thus far 
been to his people under the Confederacy, a yet greater 
work was in store for him. In his work at Camp Lee and in 
the hospitals he was impressed with the fearful destitution 
of Bibles and other religious literature among the soldiers. 
He made appeals to Nashville, Charleston and other cities, 
and to the people of Virginia, to send Bibles from their 
homes. The Virginia Bible Society and other organizations 
were making every effort to supply the increasing demand, 
but in vain. While it is now known that the American Bible 
Society was willing to make grants, it was not known at the 
South, and the military authorities had granted as yet no 
permission for even Bibles to pass the lines. 

Under these conditions, Dr. William Hoge, after several 
nights spent in anxious thought and prayer, addressed the 
following letter to his brother, and wrote to the same effect 
to Dr. Dabney, and perhaps to others : 1 

Charlottesville, Saturday, December 13, 1862. 

My Dear Brother: In my note to Dr. Brown a few 
days ago, I mentioned that I had something to write to you 
about, in which my heart is greatly interested. Let me tell 

1 The main body of the letter as printed is taken from the copy ad- 
dressed to Dr. Dabney, which, being written last, is a little more finished 
in some details. The beginning and ending are from the copy addressed 
to his brother. 



Mission to England. 



169 



you about it briefly and simply as I can, and then get your 
•counsel, and if you approve, your help. 

I wish to lay before the Christians of Great Britain an 
appeal for 'a ship-load of Bibles, Testaments, tracts, and 
•such religious publications as are best adapted for army 
•circulation. 

My letter would set forth something of our terrible 
privations and sufferings, but give them distinctly to under- 
stand that our people neither murmur nor grow faint- 
hearted, but as to these things seek help from God alone. 

I would tell them of our Bible Society and tract so- 
cieties ; of their promptness and zeal ; of the difficulties 
-against which they contend, and of their great success in 
immediately creating and diffusing a wholesome and stir- 
ring religious literature. 

I would tell them, however, that the demand greatly 
-exceeds the supply, because of the vast numbers who need 
our aid, and of the rapid destruction incident to books and 
tracts in an army incessantly moving, fighting, etc. 

I would dwell on the eagerness of our soldiers to get 
something to read; how they are often seen poring over 
an old, badly printed newspaper, devouring the very ad- 
vertisements (so ready is the soil for the seed), and how 
they are yet more eager for truth unto salvation, truth in 
Jesus, and especially the blessed gospels of our Lord. How 
•often have poor wounded and sick men lifted themselves 
up from their cots, and asked me if I could give them a 
Testament. 

I would remind them that, while our contributions had 
ever poured in freely to the treasuries of the American 
Bible Society and Tract Society, this cruel blockade had 
cut us off, not only from food for our hunger and medi- 
cines for our sickness (though we constantly give largely 
of our scanty stock, of medicines especially,' to their sick 
and wounded prisoners), but from the very word of God; 
the bread of life eternal, the remedies of the gospel of 
salvation ; that, while our enemies profess to be appalled at 
our wickedness, they will not give us even a leaf from the 
tree of life to save from perdition the souls of the men 
whom they seek to exterminate. 

I would remind them that this appeal is no further 
•founded on the righteousness which we claim for our cause 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



than to propose this dilemma: If our cause is righteous- 
(as all good and holy and God-fearing men among us de- 
voutly believe), and an innocent nation thus patiently 
endures such sufferings and wrongs, and, while its heritage 
is turned into a desert and its very life blood is streaming, 
yet lifts up no cry to the other nations of the earth for aid- 
in the bitter conflict, but simply asks of Christian men and 
women to hold up before our eyes, dim with tears and 
growing dark in death, the blessed pages of God's word, 
then surely such an appeal should meet a quick and gener- 
ous response from all whom the love of Christ con- 
straineth; while, if we are wrong and as vile as our 
enemies paint us, our appeal for the word of God urges 
itself on Christian love with yet greater power. 

Would it be proper to say that we would joyfully pur- 
chase such a cargo, while yet, if it is their preference to 
give it for Christ's sake, we will for His sake freely receive^ 
what they freely give ? 

Would it be indelicate to remind them that when Ireland- 
cried out, by reason of sore famine, ships loaded with bread 
sailed for her relief from Southern ports ? If sending such, 
a ship should prove a work of peril, are there not stout- 
hearted British sailors who, for the love of souls and the 
sake of Christ, would brave what so many constantly 
brave for private gain? 

But could there be danger? Is it credible that our foe- 
could fire into such a vessel? 

This is a rapid and crude outline. Before filling it up, 
I want your advice and every good suggestion you can add. 
I want also to know to whom I had better write before 
giving it shape. To Mr. Mason, letting him bring it out 
as he deems best before the British church at large? To 
Strahan and Company, Edinboro, who have published 
probably some forty thousand copies of Blind Bartimeus,, 
and so have some knowledge of me? To some great ad- 
vocate of our cause in Parliament? To some influential 
and godly nobleman? To one or both of these great so- 
cieties (the Bible and Tract) ? I feel a good deal at a loss 
on this point. 

Take counsel, my dear brother, with such gentlemen in 
the Church and State as you may think best, and let me 
know the result as soon as you can. No time ought to be- 



Mission to England. 



lost. I have before me a good part of a letter to you writ- 
ten more than a month ago. It expresses a good deal of 
discouragement, because I seem to have been so little useful 
to the Confederacy., after all my longing over it from afar, 
and since coming into it. But if God has put this plan into 
my heart, and will suffer me to see it accomplished, I think 
I shall praise him forever. 

The suggestion was hailed with delight by Dr. Hoge and 
those whom he consulted, but he saw that a personal repre- 
sentative could accomplish far more than a letter. A swift 
steamer was preparing to sail from Charleston, and Dr. 
Hoge made his preparations to go, unless his brother, who 
had proposed the scheme, would undertake it. He w T as sum- 
moned to Richmond by telegram and promptly consented to 
go, but a telegram from Charleston announcing the near 
sailing of the steamer did not give him the necessary time to 
return to Charlottesville and make his arrangements. The 
managers of the Virginia Bible Society met that day, accred- 
ited Dr. Hoge to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and 
authorized the purchase of Bibles on their account. In a 
few hours Dr. Hoge was on his way to Charleston. 

The following account was given in the Central Presby- 
terian at the time : 

Mission of the Rev. Dr. Hoge to England. 

Two weeks ago the Rev. Dr. Willliam J. Hoge, of Char- 
lottesville. Va., suggested to his brother in Richmond the 
scheme of a letter he had thought of addressing to Chris- 
tians in Great Britain. The object was to appeal to them 
for Bibles and Testaments, chiefly for the supply of our 
army. The plan was to have them run through the block- 
ade. This suggestion, when made known to others, met 
with much favor : but upon farther consideration, it was 
thought that if some suitable person could make a visit to 
the other side of the Atlantic, still better results would 
probably be secured. Brethren of all denominations in 
Richmond gave the proposal their warmest approbation, 
and members of the Cabinet (acting, of course, unofii- 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



dally) extended to it at once a hearty and valuable sup- 
port. 

The matter seemed to require haste, for an opportunity 
would be offered in a few days of running the blockade in 
one of the swiftest vessels on the ocean. For this and 
other reasons no time was to be lost. Not to enter into 
details, it is enough to state that the conclusion of the 
whole matter was that the Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge, of 
Richmond, undertook this most important mission. Within 
a few hours after his determination to go was settled, he 
was on his way. Information has just reached us that he 
has sailed from our shores — when, or from what port, need 
not be mentioned. We trust it was from the right place, in 
the right ship, at the right time. If no evil has befallen 
him, he is now beyond the reach of our enemy. 

The Board of Managers of the Virginia Bible Society 
were called together the day before Dr. Hoge's departure, 
and cordially approving the scheme, appointed him their 
delegate to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and 
authorized him to procure thirty-five thousand Bibles and 
Testaments on their account. In response to a telegram, 
the Rev. Dr. Joseph R. Wilson, of Augusta, Ga., chairman 
of the Executive Committee of the Confederate Bible So- 
ciety, replied that they would give the enterprise a cordial 
support. Responses to the same effect were received from 
Columbia and elsewhere. "And Hezekiah rejoiced and all 
the people, that God had prepared the people : for the thing 
was done suddenly." There is reason to hope that the 
same is true in this case. 

We shall resume this matter next week. In the mean- 
while let all who love the Bible pray that our beloved 
brother may have a "prosperous voyage by the will of 
God," a successful mission and a safe return, and that by 
it all, "the word of the Lord may have free course and be 
glorified." 

Just before sailing Dr. Hoge wrote his brother : 

Charleston, December 27, 1862. 
Dear Brother: After being detained until now, be- 
cause the weather was too fine to attempt to run the 
blockade, a rainstorm has come up, and we have orders to 
get aboard. 



Mission to England. 



173 



The perils of the attempt are greater than I had 
imagined. The captain has orders never to surrender the 
vessel, and in case he is so hemmed in as to be unable to 
escape, to scuttle or burn her ; and then the passengers and 
crew will have to take the boats, and get ashore the best 
way they can. and when they can, or be captured. 

Do not let Susan know this. I have not told her of the 
risk I am running. 

I am cheerful and hopeful : but the voyage is long and 
boisterous, and it may be that I shall never return. 

My heart goes out in unutterable longing to my dear 
wife and children, and when I think of them, I almost 
waver. But it is not my nature to turn back, and I trust 
it is not God's will that I should. 

I expect to make the voyage in safety, and get home 
again, but in case I do not, dear brother, be assured of my 
unspeakable love to you. and aid Susan as far as you can 
in the religious training, especially of my darling little 
boys. My solicitude is chiefly for them, and that they may 
be ministers of Christ on earth, and be saved in heaven. 

My best love to Virginia and your precious children. 

Pray for me constantly, and mav God bless you forever ! 

M. D. H. 

To Dr. Brown he wrote to the same effect, adding these 
further particulars : 

The steamer which will attempt to run the blockade to- 
morrow (Saturday) night is the Herald, or, as she will be 
called on her next trip, the Antonica. She is commanded 
by Captain L. M. Coxetter, a very able and resolute sea- 
man, who has been very fortunate in running the blockade 
so often without capture. But the vigilance of the enemy 
has increased, and there are now thirteen Federal steamers 
guarding the harbor, so that it is more than usually difficult 
to get out. 

Going on an errand of this kind, Dr. Hoge of course took 
pains to be well introduced. Two of the letters that he 
carried with him are interesting on account of the writers, 
the persons addressed, and the terms in which they charac- 
terize Dr. Hoge's mission : 



174 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Confederate States of America, 
Department of State, 
Richmond, 22d December, 1862. 

To George C. Peabody, Esq., London: 

Dear Sir: Although we may be far separated by po- 
litical causes, I trust I do not mistake your nature when 
expressing my conviction that you will receive with kind- 
ness my introduction to you of the Rev. Moses D. Hoge, 
of this city, who leaves for England on a mission of phil- 
anthropy. 

Mr. Hoge, who is one of our most eloquent and accom- 
plished divines, devotes himself to the effort to supply to 
our Sunday-schools and camps books of religious instruc- 
tion, which our own press is now unable to furnish in con- 
sequence of the vast diversion of peaceful labor from its 
ordinary pursuits. 

As Mr. Hoge may need your advice and counsel in 
carrying out his purpose, I appeal for them without hesi- 
tation, and recommend him to your habitual and uniform 
courtesy toward all gentlemen of merit from this side of 
the water. I am 

Yours very truly and respectfully, 

Judah P. Benjamin. 

The second was from the learned and eloquent Dr. Smyth, 
of Charleston, and was addressed to the Rev. Dr. James 
Hamilton, the Rev. Thomas Binney, and other ministers : 

Charleston, S. C, December 26, 1862. 

Reverend and Honored Brethren in the Lord : This 
will, if God convey him safely through the perils of war 
and of the sea, introduce a most zealous and faithful min- 
ister of Jesus Christ, the Rev. Dr. Hoge, of Richmond, Va., 
whose praise is in all our churches, and who will be his own 
oest commendation. He can interest you and your people 
much by recounting the wonderful works of God for us, 
and through us, as a people, and you will, I know, heartily 
further his special mission by securing for him the favor 
of all who can enable him to accomplish much for the cir- 
•culation of the Scriptures. 

With great consideration and regard, I remain, with 
grateful recollection of your personal kindness, 

Very sincerely yours, Thomas Smyth, 



Mission to England. 



175 



But Dr. Hoge's best introduction, and the one that proved 
of the most immediate and practical value to his mission, was 
the personal friendship and active cooperation of James M. 
Mason. Though never officially recognized by the govern- 
ment, yet the honorable family from which he sprang, his 
own distinguished public career and high personal qualities, 
and the extraordinary international interest aroused by his 
illegal capture and detention by the Federal authorities, had 
already secured him a high social and personal recognition. 
Among those to whom he introduced Dr. Hoge was Lord 
Shaftesbury, who at once secured him a hearing before the 
British and Foreign Bible Society. 

The incidents of his voyage and the story of his success 
are told in a letter to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

3 Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, London, 

March 6, 1862. 

My Dear Sister: You all seem like near neighbors to 
me now that intercourse is again possible. I came abroad 
with reluctance on many accounts. It was painful to leave 
my dear wife and children during the privations and un- 
certainties of war; trying to leave my congregation and 
camp when there was so much to do in both ; but I hoped 
to accomplish more good by coming than I could by re- 
maining ; and my friends, because of my long residence in 
Richmond and extensive acquaintance through the South, 
and personal knowledge of the leading generals of the 
army, and with the spiritual wants of our soldiers and 
people, thought I would be a suitable person to come 
abroad and represent our cause before the religious public 
of England. Goodness and mercy have followed me all 
the way. Our run through the blockading squadron was 
glorious. I was in one of the severest and bloodiest battles 
fought near Richmond ; but it was not more exciting than 
that midnight adventure, when, amid lowering clouds and 
dashes of rain, and just wind enough to get up sufficient 
commotion in the sea to drown the noise of our paddle 
wheels, we darted along, with lights all extinguished, and 
not even a cigar burning on the deck, until we were safely 
out, and free from the Federal fleet. 



176 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



In Nassau we chartered a little twenty-ton schooner,, 
hired a crew of negroes, and made a fine run to Havana,, 
where we got on the Royal Mail Steamship Line to St. 
Thomas, and so to Southampton. In Nassau, some gen- 
tlemen, learning my errand to England, got together and 
agreed to send several cases of Bibles and Testaments to- 
Virginia at once, which I have since learned they did. 1 
Soon after I came to London, I addressed the Committee 
(or Board of Managers, thirty-six in number) of the 
British and Foreign Bible Society, and, in a speech of half 
an hour's length (Lord Shaftesbury in the* chair), set 
forth our inability in the Confederacy to provide ourselves 
with an adequate supply of religious literature, in conse- 
quence of scarcity of paper and all the materials for print- 
ing and binding, and because all the industrial energies of 
the Confederacy were devoted to the great work of self- 
defence. I gave an account o'f the heroic manner in which 
our people had borne all the hardships and bereavements of 
the war ; of their inflexible determination to succeed ; of 
the religious character of our leading generals; of the 
eagerness of the soldiers to obtain copies of the holy Scrip- 
tures ; and ended by asking permission to purchase, on 
credit (until exchange was equalized), ten thousand Bibles 
and twenty-five thousand Testaments; but, after a short 
consultation, Lord Shaftesbury announced to me that the 
committee had resolved to make me a grant of ten thousand 
Bibles, fifty thousand Testaments and two hundred and 
fifty thousand "portions" — Psalms and Gospels. 2 I have 
made two addresses since, one before the Religious Tract 
Society, and the other before the Sunday-school people, 
with good success. I have still much to do, and if I am 
but the honored instrument of sending back a large supply 
of Bibles, and such books as may confirm the faith of the 
pious, comfort the sick and wounded, and lead sinners to 
Christ, for the use of my countrymen so nobly battling in 
the sacred cause of liberty and independence, I shall feel 
that this has been one of the most blessed eras of my life, 
and shall ever be grateful for it. 

1 Amounting to 1,232 Bibles and Testaments — a liberal contribution 
from so small a place. 

2 These portions were bound in glazed covers, with rounded corners 
and red edges — "just the thing to put in the pocket of a soldier." The 
value of this whole grant was £4,000. 



Mission to England. 



177 



While Lord Shaftesbury personally informed Dr. Hoge 
of the result, such was his interest in the matter that he at 
once dropped the following note to Mr. Mason : 

House of Lords, February 16, 1863. 
Dear Mr. Mason : We have made the grant to Dr. 
_ Hoge, and, indeed, we made one double of that which he 
requested. 

I should be very glad to see Dr. Hoge; I could assist 
him much, I think, in obtaining large supplies of tracts. 

Your obedient servant, Shaftesbury. 

As the result of his address before the Committee of the 
Religious Tract Society, referred to in his letter to Mrs. 
Greenleaf, he received the following kind note from Mr. J. 
Gurney, M. P. The amount of the grant referred to was 
£300. 

26 Abingdon Street, Westminster, S. W., 20 Feb., 1863. 

My Dear Sir : I return enclosed the letter you were so 
good as to leave for me at the Tract Society. 

Our sub-committee felt great satisfaction in recom- 
mending to the General Committee a grant of publications 
for the use of your soldiers. You will perhaps have heard 
from Dr. Davis on the subject. If not, you will very 
shortly. 

Any evening that you would like to go into the House of 
Parliament I would be happy to get you in, etc., etc. 

Yours very sincerely, J. Gurney. 

Lord Shaftesbury, hearing of his success with the Tract 
Society, wrote him a note of congratulation, suggesting yet 
further aid. 

Grosvenor Square, 24 W., March 2, 1863. 
Dear Dr. Hoge: I am rejoiced to hear of your success. 
Pray write again to Mr. Smithies to Paternoster Row, or 
see him. He will obtain for you many of the Dublin tracts. 
Your obedient servant, Shaftesbury. 

The friendship of this good Earl was one of the most 
highly prized memories of Dr. Hoge's life, and was renewed 



178 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



from time to time on his visits to London. Among the 
great multitudes that will rise up at the last day to call him 
blessed, none will have more reason for grateful testimony 
than the Confederate soldier. 

To his brother Dr. Hoge wrote (March 26th) : 

You have heard of the success with which it has pleased 
God to crown my efforts. His good hand has been con- 
spicuous in all the incidents of my voyage, and of my move- 
ments since I landed. He has raised up for me a host of 
friends, and has enabled me, as I trust, to aid our cause in 
more ways than one. Few Americans have been honored 
with more attention in London, and few have seen as much 
as I have done of social and domestic life here. I dine out 
by invitation nearly every night, and these entertainments 
being at the houses of people of wealth and high social 
position, I am thus enabled to make the acquaintance of 
people whom it is worth while to know, and worth while to 
influence. 

After repeating substantially what he had written to Mrs. 
Greenleaf, he proceeds : 

I dined with Mr. Mason evening before last. He has 
been exceedingly attentive and kind to me. When I am at 
these sumptuous banquets, one thought frequently damps 
my joy in the midst of the splendor, luxury and profusion, 
that so many of my brave countrymen are enduring the 
privations of camp life — often needing bread — and so 
many of our most refined women, all their lives accustomed 
to abundance, are now absolutely straitened for the neces- 
sities of life ; and this thought comes over me so vividly at 
these rich banquets that I experience a depression of spirits 
which I can scarcely rally from. I feel the war here more 
than I did at home, for there I could at least share in the 
privations of my own people, and could do something to 
cheer and encourage those whose circumstances were in- 
ferior to my own. On this account, I am impatient to get 
back, though were not our country invaded, I would re- 
main here three months longer. I have had a splendid 
offer within a few days — one which would carry me all 



Mission to England. 



179 



•over Northern Europe, on an honorable mission, too, 1 and 
enable me to see the very capitals and countries I have long 
desired to visit, and all this without a cent of cost to my- 
self ; you know my luck in these matters. I often think 
of what our dear mother used to say, that I was born with 
a golden spoon in my mouth. So it has been in some 
things at least ; and few have more reason than I have for 
gratitude and obedience, because of the temporal mercies 
which have been showered on me. One of the pleasantest 
incidents of my stay in London has been the visit of a 
month I have made to Mr. Reid. He and his wife came to 
my lodgings in Torrington Square, and so kindly pressed 
me to come and take up my abode with them that I con- 
sented. Mrs. Reid, as you know, is a daughter of Dr. 
Cochran, of New York, and Mr. Reid formerly lived in 
Norfolk. I am going to Glasgow to-morrow morning, and 
this ends my pleasant stay at this house. 

Should any unexpected difficulty in running the block- 
ade, sickness, or any other unanticipated event, detain me 
here, I want you to preach for me as much as you can. 

Mr. Reid desires to be affectionately remembered to 
you. To Sister Virginia and your dear children I send my 
love, and I assure you of the tender and strong affection 
of your brother, Moses. 

Among the many outstanding people that Dr. Hoge met 
at this time, the most interesting acquaintance that he made 
was with Thomas Carlyle. Carlyle, with his strong views 
of the Divine right of the Able-man to rule, had little 
sympathy with the abolition movement, and took a deep 
interest in the Confederate cause. He made a characteristic 
note about him in his journal, emphasizing especially his 
"veracity," and frequently sent messages to him in after 

1 This was a proposition from Colonel Lamar to accompany him to 
St. Petersburgh (to which he had been sent to represent the Confederate 
government) to aid him in getting recognition for the Confederacy. He 
did not go to St. Petersburgh, nor did Colonel Lamar; but he spent a 
few weeks with him in Paris, endeavoring to get an audience with the 
Emperor, but in vain. It was probably a knowledge of this that made 
his capture a special object on the part of the Federal authorities. 



i8o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



years. Dr. Hoge did not fail, as usual, to turn the conver- 
sation to spiritual things. 1 

Besides the grants made by the societies in London, Dr. 
Hoge was busy procuring special publications for the Con- 
federate public with the means that were placed at his dis- 
posal for this purpose. The Presbyterians of Richmond and 
Virginia raised so much more than their proportion of the 
amount promised by the Virginia Bible Society that those 
in charge of the collections, after paying in to the Bible So- 
ciety nearly half of the whole amount it was to raise, placed 
the rest in Dr. Hoge's hands to use as he saw fit. This was 
supplemented by other contributions, of which the following 
note gives a specimen : 

4 Crosby Square, April 7, 1863. 
My Dear Dr. Hoge: Many engagements have pre- 
vented my calling upon you, as I ought to have done. My 
brother has mentioned to me your wish to dispose of some 
Confederate eight per cent, bonds at sixty. As a matter 
of business, I do not see how we can help you to anything 
like such a price for them, as, at the present rate of ex- 
change in Richmond, the bonds at par in Confederate 
money would not stand in here more than about thirty per 
cent. 

Will you, however, allow my brother and myself to 
testify our appreciation of the noble object of your mission 
here by a donation of two hundred pounds towards its 
funds? Yours sincerely, John Gilliad. 

With these funds were issued series of tracts gotten up 
with the Confederate battle flag on the cover, under the gen- 
eral title, "Reading for the Ranks." The cost of shipping 
the Bibles and other books was great. The idea of a special 
vessel, which might have been admitted under flag of truce, 
had to be abandoned, and the cases were sent in different 

1 It is much to be regretted that Dr. Hoge's account of his interest- 
ing conversation with Carlyle cannot be found, and I hesitate to give 
any of it from the memory of those who heard him relate it. A niece 
of Dr. Hoge's learned of the reference in Carlyle's journal from a 
friend of his nephew, whom she met on shipboard. 



Mission to England. 



181 



blockade-runners as opportunity offered. Only a few could 
be sent in one vessel, so that the work took much time. 
Many of them were captured, and some were sunk in the 
sea, but at least three-fourths of the books reached the Con- 
federacy. 

Meanwhile his mission was bearing other fruit. Chris- 
tian men in the North heard of it. They felt that it was a 
shame that there should be an embargo on the word of God, 
and the authorities were induced to secure the passage 
through the lines of donations of Bibles for the Confederate 
States. The Rev. Dr. Backus, of Baltimore, to whom Dr. 
Hoge had written requesting aid in his mission, wrote to 
him of what was doing on the other side : 

Bali i more, March 17, 1863. 
My Dear Sir: Your letter reached me about the first 
of this month, just as I was leaving home for an absence of 
eight or ten days. I placed it in the hands of one of our 
elders, known to be warmly interested in the Southern 
cause, with the request that he would do what he could. I 
was sorry to find on my return that he had delayed the 
matter to consult me, owing to the fact that a question had 
been raised here, whether it will not be more economical 
and safe to send Bibles from Baltimore than from London. 
The American Bible Society has appropriated fifty thou- 
sand copies to the South, a large number of which have 
been sent here. The question, however, was raised in our 
Bible Board, whether Bibles from the North would be 
received. The Rev. Peyton Harrison, who is now here, 
has assured them that they will be. I have sent several 
thousand myself, the gift of Mr. Weeks, at the request of 
friends, by means of a permit from General Dix at Fortress 
Monroe. Mrs. George Brown has also sent several thou- 
sand. And about a week since an agent from Richmond 
came here with a thousand dollars in gold to purchase 
Bibles for the South. All this seems to decide the ques- 
tion, and many, I have no doubt, will feel that at the present 
high rate of exchange, and with the risks of their being 
captured, it is better to send at present from Baltimore, 
under General Dix's pass, than to send to London and have 



1 82 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



English Bibles shipped from there. I have no doubt, how- 
ever, that some funds will be collected and sent to you, ac- 
cording to your directions, by the next steamer (though 
not as much as would have been sent under other circum- 
stances), as there are many persons here who would be 
glad to embrace any opportunity to send Bibles and relig- 
ious books South. 

While Dr. Hoge was engaged in these labors, his brother 
paid a visit early in March to General Jackson's headquarters 
at Moss Neck, near Fredericksburg, to engage in mission 
work among the soldiers. General Jackson had organized 
the chaplain service with as much care as any other depart- 
ment of his army. Dr. Hoge's cousin, the Rev. Dr. B. Tucker 
Lacy, was at the head of this service, which of course in- 
cluded all denominations. Dr. William Hoge, speaking of 
one occasion when he had preached there, after naming those 
who took part, said: "So we had a Presbyterian sermon, 
introduced by Baptist services, under the direction of a 
Methodist chaplain, in an Episcopal church. Was not that 
a beautiful solution of the vexed problem of Christian 
union ?" 

It was doubtless with regard to this visit that he wrote the 
letter about General Jackson referred to in the following 
notes. Very soon after it was received, a melancholy interest 
attached to everything connected with Jackson from the 
news of his wounding at Chancellorsville. 1 

Grosvenor Square, May 19, 1863. 
Dear Sir: The letter, which I now return, is highly 
interesting. 

I am going out of town for the Whitsuntide holidays, 
but I shall hope to see you before you quit England. 

Your very faithful servant, Shaftesbury. 
The Rev. Dr. Hoge. 

1 We say "wounding," for it was impossible that his death, which 
occurred on the 10th, could have been known in London on the 19th, o 
rather before the 19th, when the letter was sent to Lord Shaftesbury. 



Mission to England. 



183 



26 Abingdon Street, Westminster, S. W., 22 May, 1863. 

My Dear Sir : I return the enclosed with many thanks. 
We have read it with great interest. 

I hope — though I can hardly venture to hope — that the 
Bibles and books and tracts have been got in safely. I 
see from your brother's letter that there is some prospect 
of the Federal government allowing Bibles — perhaps all 
religious books — to be introduced freely. This would be 
a happy thing so far. 

This sad war seems to me to be in some respects the 
saddest that the world has ever seen, and in some respects 
the most extraordinary. It is a most striking exception 
to Cowper's line, "War is a game that kings play at." Here 
it seems to be the doing of the people to an extent that 
has probably scarcely ever occurred before. I hope that 
when your Southern constitution is formed, you will have 
something more like our well-tried British Constitution. 
And, if not a king, you will at least have in some form a 
real nobility. 

I hope you will soon have better news from home. It 
would give unspeakable joy throughout this country to 
receive tidings of the termination of this lamentable war, 
as you have doubtless seen. I remain, my dear sir, 

Yours very truly, J. Gurney. 

P. S. — Mrs. Gurney and my family unite in very kind 
regards. We would all be greatly pleased to see you again 
at West Hill. 

The first explicit reference to Jackson's death is in a note 
from Nisbet and Company about a reprint they were making 
of Dr. William Hoge's sketch of Captain Harrison (May 
28th), which closes, "We sympathize deeply with you in the 
death of General Jackson." Still later he received the fol- 
lowing note from Mr. Alexander Haldane, one of the warm- 
est friends he made on that side of the Atlantic, unremitting 
in his attention, and constant in his affection throughout 
life : 

no Westbrook Terrace, 4 July, 1863. 
Dear Dr. Hoge : I have been very desirous to see you, 
and now write to ask if you could dine with us on Satur- 



1 84 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



day at half-past six o'clock, or if not, whether you would 
name some other day. 

We are much interested in the Southern news, although 
we miss your gallant and heroic General Stonewall Jack- 
son. Most truly yours, Alex. Haldane. 

Lord Shaftesbury wishes much that I should see your 
brother's letter about Jackson. 

Meanwhile his brother had written another "letter about 
Jackson," a letter which time has not robbed of its pathos. 
He was on his way to another mission to the army, and thus 
wrote his wife : 

Wednesday, May 13, 1863. 

Perhaps I cannot do better than to journalise this little 
expedition to the army, writing as I have opportunity, and 
mailing when I have enough. So I will begin with Gor- 
donsville. About ten minutes after our train arrived, the 
special train came slowly around the curve, bearing its sad, 
precious burden, the dead body of our beloved glorious 
Jackson. As it drew near, the minute guns, the soldiers' 
funeral bell, sounded heavily. How strange it seemed that 
a crowd so eager should be so still, and that Jackson should 
be received with silent tears instead of loud-ringing huz- 
zas. As the train stopped, I caught sight of the coffin, 
wrapped in the flag he had borne so high and made so 
radiant with a glory so pure. Many wreaths of exquisite 
flowers, too, covered it from head to foot. Sitting near the 
body were young Morrison, his brother-in-law, our dear 
friend Jimmy Smith, and Major Pendleton. Smith asked 
me to get in and ride with him to Charlottesville ; but I felt 
that I ought not to lose another day from my work. 

I asked him if Mrs. Jackson would like to see me, telling 
him that I would on no account intrude myself on her in 
such an hour, but would count it a high privilege if I might 
be of the least comfort to her. He assured me that she 
would welcome my visit ; but I asked him to see her first. 
He went into the car in which she sat almost alone, and 
immediately returned with her request that I should come 
in. And there sat this noble little woman in her widow's 
weeds, a spectacle to touch and instruct any heart. She 
was so patient amid all the pageantry — the oppressive pa- 



Mission to England. 



185 



;geantry — through which of necessity she had been carried ; 
so calm and sustained and sweet in behavior and conversa- 
tion, and so manifestly stricken to the heart's depths by a 
sense of her incomparable loss. And there, just before her 
lay her sweet little babe, little Julia, named by him for his 
mother, the babe he had never seen till her recent ten days' 
visit abruptly ended by the great battle ; the babe he so de- 
lighted in — there it lay on its back, the best little thing, 
looking so tender and so unconscious of its part in these 
tremendous scenes, looking aimlessly about and pleased 
with everything, not starting, or ceasing the meaningless 
pretty motions of its little hands, as the cannon thundered — 
Tiow my heart yearned over it for his sake, and for her sake 
and its own little sake. I stooped over it, and drew it up to 
me and more than once kissed "its innocent little mouth." 
I sat some ten or fifteen minutes, and felt it was good to be 
there; that I had communed with one more of those pure 
■and noble women who prove themselves worthy of their 
noble husbands ; yea, with another "elect lady," beautiful 
in the grace of Christ and precious in the sight of God. 
She was so evidently bearing all and doing all as she felt 
that her husband could have wished her to do, that she 
•seemed to me just what he would have been in her place — 
the tender, helpless, stricken, brave little wife of such. a 
saint, such a hero. She spoke of the pleasure he had had 
in my visit to camp, and thanked me most cordially for this 
visit to her. Oh ! how I wish you could be with her a good 
while, both to know her and to comfort her, since you have 
yourself both suffered and sympathized so much. 

When Mrs. Jackson was sent to Richmond, because of 
the approaching battles, Governor Letcher (who was on 
the train to-day with the body) made her his guest; but 
Sister Susan took her to her home, where she could be 
more quiet. She heard of her husband's wound on Mon- 
day, but, because of interrupted communication effected by 
the raid, could not get to him until Thursday. Susan went 
with her, her companion and comforter, and was thus one 
of that favored number who saw this "good man meet his 
fate." W. J. H. 

But now for the beloved wife at home, so ready to help 
in others' sorrows, and for himself, so full of all his coun- 



1 86 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



try's woes, the sword was preparing that was to pierce their 
own souls. One day, a few weeks before Dr. Hoge was 
to return home, Mr. Mason sent him, with a hastily pencilled 
note, holding out such scanty hope of mistake as the circum- 
stances permitted, a clipping from a paper announcing the 
arrest of a Federal spy — a Northern woman who was a 
guest in his house, kindly treated and trusted. A letter of 
hers had been intercepted attempting to secure Dr. Hoge's 
capture and imprisonment on his return, and advising the 
arrest of ministers at the North whose Southern sympathies 
she had learned in his house. When the officers went to ar- 
rest her, "finding a child of Dr. Hoge's lying dead in the 
house, the arrest was postponed until the funeral services 
were over!' 

Into the anguish of that hour we may not enter, but when 
he wrote to his wife, faith had shone out clear and strong : 

London, August 12, 1863. 
My Dear Wife : I have learned that I am bereaved of 
one of my children. I know not which has been taken. I 
love them all with my whole heart, and were God to permit 
me to decide which one to surrender, I coidd not decide, 
but would refer it back to him. My grief is increased when 
I know how much you are distressed for me, that I should 
be thus suddenly, strangely afflicted, when far from home, 
among strangers. But I am among friends, kind, Christian, 
sympathizing friends; and, above all, near to me is the 
Friend "above all others." I am wonderfully sustained 
amidst all the uncertainty that attends my trial. I can say 
from my heart, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are 
right, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me." Do- 
not grieve, my darling, on my account. Divine grace is- 
abundantly given me, so that I have no disposition to mur- 
mur or repine. These separations are sad, but they will 
soon be over. Heaven is our home. We will there forever 
be with one another, and with the Lord. Be of good com- 
fort. Cast all your care upon God ; he careth for you. He 
chastises you because he loves you. My greatest desire is 
that this may be a sanctified affliction to you and the dear 
children. It soothes me that dear Dr. and Mrs. Browr& 



l^t* l{*jUs 

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Mission to England. 



187 



are with you ; and then Dr. Moore is so kind at such sea- 
sons. Let this letter calm and reassure you. I know the 
authorities will allow it to pass to you. It comes from the 
sad, yet comforted heart of your loving husband, 

M. D. Hoge. 

But the hardest part of the blow was yet to come. He 
tells the story in a letter to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

London, September 1, 1863. 

My Dear Sister : You know I would not willingly cast 
one shadow on your path, or add one drop to your cup of 
sorrow, already so full, by telling you what would pain 
your sympathizing and loving heart, but will you not 
allow me the selfish relief of telling you of the grief that 
is in my own, and thus, at the same time, of showing you 
how dear your friendship is to me, and how I turn to it 
for solace in my time of need ? 

Last Monday I received two letters — one from my dear 
friend, Mrs. Brown, and the other from Susan. It was 
some time before I could break the seal of either. I had 
known for three weeks that one of my children had been 
taken, but now in a moment I could know which; but how 
could I bring myself to make the discovery? I was suf- 
fering so much for Susan, entering so fully into her grief,, 
knowing that she was bearing mine as well as her own, that 
I felt I could not bear the announcement from her, so I 
opened Mrs. Brown's first; but after reading a few lines, 
it was long before I could read more. I had somewhat 
accustomed myself to the idea that it was our little one who 
had been taken, for from his birth he had been very feeble, 
and often I have felt that the time was near when I must 
resign him; but I had not been able to anticipate, what was 
the fact, that my precious Lacy — my pride and joy, my 
heart's treasure, my consecrated one, my fondest hope in 
the future — that he was the one whom I was to see no more 
on earth. I have had many trials, but never one like this. 
From the time he was born, 'he has carried my very heart 
in his little bosom, and his love for me was something won- 
derful. I carried him in my arms for hours when he was an 
infant ; took him with me in my rides when he grew older ; 
made him a companion more sweet to me than any other I 



88 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



could conceive of ; kept him in my study by day ; and nearly 
every night, when I could be at home, let him go to sleep 
in my arms, a pleasure he seemed to enjoy above all others. 
His seat was next to mine at table; his chair was next 
to mine at prayers ; and when we kneeled down, he would 
be perfectly content and still, if I held his hand in mine, or 
laid my hand on his head. I never laid a finger on him in 
chastisement, When he had done anything I disapproved, 
and I looked displeased in consequence, he could not be 
happy again until I smiled. He would lay his little head 
on my knee and weep, or look up at me with streaming 
eyes, rapidly saying, "Papa, papa, I sorry," until I was 
reconciled and kissed him. I meant to be his playmate 
during his boyhood, and his associate as he grew up to 
manhood, if I should be spared; it was my highest am- 
bition to form his tastes and principles, to study with and 
for him ; and then, if it pleased God, to see him a minister 
of Christ. These are some of the expectations which have 
been blasted in a moment. 

From dear Susan's letter, and from Mrs. Brown's, I see 
how his mother's love for him had grown during my ab- 
sence. She says he was her shadow, following her through 
the house, to market, wherever she went. She says he 
-often told her he was her little man; that he knew where 
papa kept his pistols, and he would not let anybody hurt 
her while I was gone. During his short illness, in which 
he suffered excruciating pain, he tried to hide it from her, 
and when she saw his face quivering at times, and would 
ask him about it, he would tell her he was trying to keep 
from crying, because it made her cry. Mrs. Brown writes, 
"His mind was entirely clear to the last. I never heard 
him utter sweeter words or look more lovely than he did 
half an hour before his death. He saw his mother weeping, 
and said, 'Mamma, what is the matter ? what are you crying 
for?' She sobbed, 'Because my little boy is so sick.' He 
looked at her so affectionately and replied, 'Mamma, I am 
so sorry for you' — his last connected sentence. His love 
for you had only grown with your absence. Nothing 
could wean him from you. He talked constantly of your 
return and of your letters. Many a day he would be in the 
yard when I returned from the office, and would always 
ask, 'Have you any letter from my papa.' The very day of 



Mission to England. 



his death (Wednesday, July 15th) he woke hearing his 
mother reading a letter aloud, and, in a half dreamy voice, 
asked, 'What does my papa say ?' " 

Mrs. Brown also tells me just what I feared, that Susan's 
sorrow was just doubled because she was grieving for me 
as much as for herself. 

"Dear mother, it has been a sore trial to bear because she 
has had to bear it alone, and bear it for you. She would 
often say, 'If I could only spare Mr. Hoge this.' She had 
been so loving to the little child since your absence, trying 
so hard to fill your place and her own, too ; never wearied 
in entertaining him with stories and instructing him in all 
knowledge. Oh ! how my heart bleeds for her. Her lone- 
liness is so great, and yet the Christian triumphs, and she 
bears up so nobly." 

My sister, this is the child I have lost and this is my 
grief ; and now I bless God I can say from my heart, I do 
not rebel at the dispensation. I can enter somewhat into 
the feelings of my dear friend and elder, Mr. Martin, when 
standing at Edward's bedside, when he thought he was 
dying, he said, "O Lord, thou art holy and just and good." 
Sure I am there was never one who needed and deserved 
affliction more than I do. I pray to be prepared by it to be 
a comfort to my suffering people when I return home, pre- 
pared to strengthen them, and to be strong myself for all 
the trials we may yet undergo before our independence is 
won. It has been a comfort to me to write this letter — a 
comfort dashed, it is true, by the apprehension that it has 
given you pain. Precious as sympathy is, I almost wish 
I could keep you from sympathizing with me, for it im- 
plies a community of suffering in a case like this. I would 
fain tell you only of joys, successes and prosperous ad- 
venture, for then your sympathy, like the secondary rain- 
bow, reflecting mine, would show only in colors bright and 
cheering to the eyes and heart. But we cannot always have 
it so ; the bow in the evening cloud is sometimes blotted out 
by a night of sadness and storm ; but a morning of joy will 
come at last, and with this anticipation, and with the as- 
surance of unchanging affection, let me end my letter. 

A few days afterwards the long waited for opportunity 
came, and he set his face homeward. Two letters to Mrs. 
Greenleaf describe the progress of his voyage : 



90 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Halifax, September 16, 1863. 
I bless God for such a friend. I bless you for such love. 
Like a bright and constant star, when the sun has gone 
down, it shines comfort into my heart during this night 
of sorrow. 

I know not how to account for it, but since the death of 
Parsons, my only intimate friends have been of your sex. 
In England, I made one, who, hearing of my bereavement, 
wrote to me saying, "I have learned to know you well 
enough to be sure that you are craving the sympathy of 
a woman's heart, and so I," etc. If this was comforting, 
coming from one who, until recently, was a stranger, you 
may imagine what a treasure yours is, tried and proved by 
time, and by what has separated so many chief friends as 
by a bottomless gulf. 

Since I have learned how my grief made you sick in 
body and in soul, I almost regret that you ever heard what 
happened to me, but it is Heaven's ordinance that one 
member shall suffer with another in the same body. 

My impatience to get home increases every hour; but I 
have yet to sound a deep and perilous way before I can 
arrive, if at all. I need not explain; the papers will tell 
y r ou why. 

Several days before I left England, I was taken with a 
slow fever, which continued during the voyage and yet 
remains. This makes my hand tremulous and like that of 
an old man, but I am thankful to say I have a heart as 
fresh and full as ever of love for my friends. O that it was 
fuller of love and loyalty to my God and Saviour ! Certain 
I am, and so may you be, that it reciprocates all you can 
feel for me. Say in my behalf whatever is kindest to all 
who remember and care for your tempest-tossed, but com- 
forted brother ; and think of me during the next fortnight 
when you hear the wind blow. 

Bermuda, October 3, 1863. 
My Dear Sister: After a most uncomfortable passage 
hy the Alpha from Halifax, having been delayed twenty- 
four hours beyond our due time by head winds, I arrived 
at this place on the 23d ultimo. It was a comfort, however, 
to get into port and into the hospitable home of my friend, 
Mr. William P. Campbell, late of New Orleans, just as the 
equinoctial gales were commencing in earnest. It rained 



Mission to England. 



191 



and blew heavily for four days, and I was glad and grateful 
to be on shore. I have been sick most of the time since I 
landed, yet I managed to preach here (at St. George's) 
last Sunday, both morning and evening, and to-morrow I 
shall attempt the same at Hamilton, twelve miles distant. 
It is pleasant to me to preach in so many different parts of 
the world. A good seed dropped here and there, at points 
far asunder, may spring up and bear fruit of which I shall 
know nothing until the day of final accounts. 

I expect to sail from here on Tuesday next (the 6th) in 
the blockade-runner, Advance (late the Lord Clyde). 

A few days will determine whether my destination will 
be the bottom of the sea, Richmond, or some Northern 
Bastile. If the latter, perhaps I will see you sooner than 
would otherwise be possible, and that will be one consola- 
tion, provided I be allowed to receive calls. 

The difficulties of getting in are increased very much of 
late, but I have good hopes of a safe arrival. 

I send you another photograph of Lacy. It was copied 
in London just before I left, from a picture taken about six 
months after the one a copy of which I sent you some 
months ago. The one I now enclose is an excellent likeness 
of him in his serious moods. 

It is just the look and attitude he generally had when 
he was at family prayers in the morning. Dear little fel- 
low ! It is all morning with him now, and praise. So may 
it be with us one day ! Adieu. M. D. H. 

All the ports of the Confederacy were now practically 
closed except Wilmington. The main mouth of the Cape 
Fear was also closed, but there was another channel, about 
fifteen miles nearer Wilmington, where the river and the sea 
had broken through the narrow strip of sand, that divided 
them. 1 This inlet was a favorite entrance, especially for the 
coasting trade, and for vessels approaching from the North. 
It was protected by Fort Fisher, and blockaded by a large 
Federal fleet. Sunday morning, October nth, was a day of 
cloudless beauty. Dr. Hoge came early on deck to find the 
Advance sailing merrily southward, with the Federal fleet 



1 Since the war this has been closed by the government. 



192 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



in full view. The captain had been drinking and playing 
cards with some young men most of the night, and Dr. Hoge 
became anxious. 

"What are you going to do, Captain?" 

"I am going to Wilmington to-day." 

"But surely you are not going to attempt it in broad day- 
light." 

"Why not?" 

"Well, for one reason, the Confederate government can- 
not afford to lose this ship, and for another, there are some 
of us on board that do not wish to be captured, and I am one 
of them." 

"Oh! you will not be captured, and this ship will not be 
lost." 

Still they bore on ; but as yet there was no movement in 
the Federal fleet. It is probable that they were deceived by 
the boldness of the steamer's approach, and took her for 
some transport or supply vessel. When she was nearly op- 
posite the entrance, the helm was put hard to port, and all 
steam put on as she made for the inlet. 

The mask was now thrown off, and three Federal vessels 
gave chase. She had a good start; but if they could not 
catch her by steam, perhaps they could with gunpowder, and 
soon the shells were shrieking through her rigging. Any 
moment might decide her fate, but still she sped on un- 
touched. The situation was critical — and uncomfortable. 
But now the pursuing vessels came in range of the Confed- 
erate guns, and Fort Fisher opened fire. The pursuit slack- 
ened, and the pursuers fell off. Almost the next instant the 
Advance was stuck fast on a shoal; had it happened a mo- 
ment sooner, they would have been lost. The captain, now 
thoroughly sober, came to Dr. Hoge and besought him to 
lead them in a service of thanksgiving; and on that Sab- 
bath morning, in sight of the baffled enemy and the pro- 
tecting fort, passengers and crew assembled on deck and 
stood with bared heads beneath their own blue Southern 



Mission to England. 



193 



skies, while he lifted his heart to God in thanksgiving and 
praise for their deliverance. Yet the danger was not quite 
over. If they did not get free by night there was risk of 
their being boarded under cover of the darkness. But with 
the rising tide they were afloat again in the early afternoon, 
and that night they slept in Wilmington. 

Dr. Hoge's first impression on returning from the wealth 
and comfort of foreign lands to his beloved Confederacy 
must have been depressing in the extreme. The fall before 
Wilmington had been scourged by yellow fever ; in the sus- 
pension of all quarantine and sanitary regulations, it had 
gained an entrance with blockade-runners from the West 
Indies, and had swept through the town until hundreds had 
died, and every one who could get away had left town, many 
not to return until the war was over. Even then there were 
many hospitable homes whose doors would have been thrown 
open to him had his presence been known ; but he went to a 
wretched little hotel — the only one that kept up a starving 
existence amid the general prostration. It was a great con- 
trast to visits that he paid there in more prosperous times, 
but after all he was in his own country ; scourged, bleeding, 
fire-girdled, it might be; but still the country of his love, 
for which he had suffered much, and was ready to suffer 
more. Two days later he was at home. 

Mrs. Hoge wrote of it to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

R * December 14, 1863. 

My Dear Sister Mary: I wrote you soon after my 
husband went abroad, but never knew whether you re- 
ceived it, until his return. I was very glad you wrote to 
him, for it was so seldom he received any of our letters. 
We sent him more than a hundred and twenty from this 
house, and he got only thirty. I sent many through the 
North, thinking that was the most direct route, and not one 
got to England sent in that way, except by flag of truce. I 
suppose you saw an account of the wonderful escape he 

1 So written, evidently to avoid identification if the letter fell into 
the hands of the Federal authorities. 



194 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



made in running the blockade. I believe it was in answer 
to the many prayers that ascended for him all over our 
land. Oh ! you do not know what a thrill of joy was sent 
to my heart, weighed down by sorrow and intense anxiety, 
by the telegram sent from Fort Fisher, "Ran in this morn- 
ing under heavy fire ; all safe and well." Two days after- 
wards, October 13th, he arrived safely — we will pass over 
his arrival. 

He looks more robust than I ever saw him, but his 
health was not entirely restored. He has not been well 
one day since he came, having had a fever, which prevailed 
in England a month before he left. He was not strong 
when he reached home; then a throng of company, and 
late hours to prepare for Sabbath sermons, have just kept 
him unwell nearly all the time. 

He is much changed since you saw him. I never saw 
any one as crushed and broken-hearted as he is under this 
sore trial. Our little boy was nearly four years old, and so 
noble and beautiful that many persons remarked upon his 
precociousness. He was obedient and gentle and tender in 
his feeling, and, in fact, all that we could desire. But he 
sickened, and in a few hours congestion of the stomach 
carried him off. My poor heart is broken and bleeding, 
but I hope I can say, "It is well with the child." 1 In the 
bitter cup I had many mercies, and was wonderfully sus- 
tained, and so is dear Moses. I wish you could see with 
what sweet Christian spirit he bears it, and his preaching 
is so comforting to others in affliction, and, I trust, even 
since his return home, that God has given him many souls. 

Upon his return home, Dr. Hoge had not only to take up 
the many threads of the work of the church, but was im- 
portuned to lecture on the experiences of his mission and the 
attitude of the outside world towards the Confederacy. At 
last the request came in an almost official form from the 
State and Confederate officers, and he consented, delivering 
several lectures in Richmond and Petersburg. No building 
in Richmond proved sufficient for the audiences, and the lec- 
tures netted several thousand dollars for the relief of the suf- 
fering families of Confederate soldiers. 

1 The text of Dr. Moore's beautiful funeral sermon. 



Mission to England. 



195 



There have been frequent echoes of this mission in the 
years that have followed. 

Once on a visit to Boston, not long after the war, Dr. 
Hoge saw an advertisement in a bookseller's window of 
Confederate Bibles for sale. He went in and, finding they 
.were his own Bibles, purchased one. It bore this legend 
printed on a slip of paper pasted inside the cover : 

From the cargo of the 
Anglo-Rebel Blockade-Runner, 
Minna, 
Captured December 6, 1863, 
Off Wilmington, 
By the Government Dispatch-Ship 
Circassia, 
Captain W. B. Eaton. 

In 1 89 1 the editor of the Leisure Hour wrote him : 

56 Paternoster Row, E. G, London, January 26, 1891. 
Dear Dr. Hoge : Is there any published account of your 
"running the blockade" during the war? I want to use 
it in preparing a book of "true tales" for Nisbet and Com- 
pany, the principal of which firm, Mr. James Robertson, 
was formerly in New York, representing Nelson's House. 
It was he who suggested my writing to you. I suppose it 
to be the same Dr. Hoge whose visit to the Religious Tract 
Society's Committee is still remembered with pleasure by 
the few survivors who were there that morning, and among 
them by Yours very sincerely, 

James Macaulay, M. D. 

And still later his nephew, residing in Wilmington, re- 
ceived a letter from the War Department asking informa- 
tion of a "Rev. Dr. Hoge, who was reported by the secret 
service as having run the blockade into Wilmington with a 
cargo of rifles for the Confederate government." 

But Dr. Hoge's most prized memorials of this mission 
were the letters he received from several of the leading gen- 
erals in the Confederate army, to whom he sent copies of 



196 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the Bibles he had secured. With his characteristic capacity 
for waiting, he never published these letters, or even men- 
tioned their existence, until his fiftieth anniversary. 

Camp, Orange County, March 10, 1864. 

My Dear Sir: I received some time since your very 
kind note of November last, accompanying a specimen copy 
of the Bibles you obtained during your late visit to Eng- 
land. I am very much obliged to you for so acceptable a 
gift, and pray that I may be able to practice its holy teach- 
ings. The success which attended your expedition and 
the number of books of Scripture you procured is a subject 
of devout thanksgiving to God, and of hearty congratula- 
tion to yourself. 

With feelings of gratitude for your prayers, and kind 
sentiments and earnest wishes for your welfare, I am, with 
great respect and esteem, Very truly yours, 

Robert E. Lee. 

Rev. M. D. Hoge, D. D. 

Charlottesville, November 27, 1863. 

My Dear Sir : I have received your kind letter, accom- 
panying a copy of the Bible. Please add to the value of the 
gift by joining in my prayers that I may be assisted in fol- 
lowing the precepts of the Divine Word, and that I may be 
guided by its wisdom. 

I am about starting for the army, having been detained 
by an injury to my leg. Richard S. Ewell. 

Headquarters Rodes' Division, November 25, 1863. 

My Dear Sir: Captain Smith delivered to me a few 
days ago the tasteful and valuable present you did me the 
honor to make me. 

I assure you that such a gift at your hands gives me 
great pleasure. I will prize it highly, and read it, I hope, 
with profit to my soul. I feel sure that my promising you 
this in good faith will convince you that I appreciate your 
kindness, and that I am sincerely obliged to you for the 
interest you have taken in my welfare. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

R. E. Rodes. 

Rev. M. D. Hoge, D. D., Richmond, Va. 



Mission to England. 



197 



Near Orange Court-house, November 21, 1863. 

My Dear Sir: Please accept my grateful acknowledg- 
ments for the very neat and serviceable edition of the Holy 
Bible, which I received by the hand of Colonel Pendleton. 

I had the good fortune to hear General Lee read your 
letter to him, in which you speak of having secured a large 
amount of valuable religious literature in England for the 
use of the Confederacy. 

Please find enclosed thirty-six dollars, which I wish ex- 
pended for detached portions of scripture — the Gospels 
preferred — which I wish to distribute among my friends in 
the ranks. 1 

With best wishes for your continued welfare and useful- 
ness, permit me to remain, Your servant, 

J. E. B. Stuart. 

Dalton, February 15, 1864. 
My Dear Sir : I have had the pleasure to receive from 
our friend, Colonel Ewell, the Bible presented to me by 
you. 

I assure you that no gift has ever before afforded me so 
much gratification. My father's children were taught to 
venerate the name you bear, and I know that you bear it 
worthily. It is, therefore, a source of great pleasure to find 
that you thought of me beyond the Atlantic. 

Receiving this Bible revived the feeling you gave me 
almost two years ago by saying that I was remembered in 
the prayers of those who meet in your church to pray. 

I know that it would gratify your goodness to believe 
that the reading of this book will not be neglected. Be as- 
sured that it shall not, but that I will strive to read it in 
the spirit of the poor publican's prayer. 

Sincerely yours, J. E. Johnston, 

Rev. Moses D. Hoge. 

1 Dr. Hoge sent the Bibles, but did not cash the check, which is still 
preserved as a souvenir of an officer for whom Dr. Hoge had an almost 
romantic admiration. 



CHAPTER IX. 



William James Hoge. 
i860 — 1864. 

"Thy leaf has perished in the green, 

And, while we breathe beneath the sun, 
The world which credits what is done 
Is cold to all that might have been.' 1 — Tennyson. 

FROM the time that William Hoge entered the ministry, 
the lives of the two brothers were so closely intertwined 
by correspondence and by common tastes and interests that 
the biography of the one has necessarily involved much of 
the life of the other. 

But as the time approaches when their association on 
earth is to end, we must pause in the narrative of the elder 
brother's life to gather up the missing threads in the life of 
the younger. This is necessary both to gain a just concep- 
tion of the full meaning of this loss to Dr. Hoge, and to 
fulfil his cherished wish that any biography that might be 
written of him should enshrine also the memory of his 
brother. 

William Hoge must early have manifested the brilliant 
qualities that distinguished him in manhood. One who 
knew him at college said in after years : "All now know the 
man of genius; it was my privilege to know the boy of 
genius." Some years ago his son met in New York the late 
Hon. S. S. Cox, who at once asked if he were related to 
William Hoge. On learning the relationship, he exclaimed, 
"His son! Why I loved your father as I never loved any 
man. I owe to him all that is good in my life. We were 
schoolmates. He taught me to love my book. He taught 
me to love my Saviour." 

When Mr. Hoge became a professor in the Ohio Univer- 
sity, where he had been a student, the impression that he 



William James Hoge. 



199 



made upon those with whom he was associated must have 
been deep and abiding, as witnessed by the following tribute 
from an alumnus of that institution, who had been a stu- 
dent under him, published after many years in The (Phila- 
delphia ) Presbyterian : 

In this list of crowned heads, something of whose lives, 
we believe, remains in their living pupils, was the bright 
spirit dwelling a while in that splendid tabernacle of flesh, 
known under the name of William J. Hoge. Full of en- 
thusiasm, glowing with genius, as genial as gifted, with a 
face of marvellous beauty, with eyes sharp and even pierc- 
ing, at one moment playful, twinkling with delight, and 
at another tearful with love and pity, as often as sorrow 
and discomfort in others, spiritual or temporal, stood be- 
fore him ; and with a voice, the tones of which, we think, 
we would recognize amidst the harmonies of heaven; no 
thoughtful man ever heard him pray, preach or sing, who 
did not perceive, by tones, words, look and thought, that 
he was feeling after his heart to win it as a trophy for the 
Redeemer. He was the author of that matchless book, 
Blind Bartimeus, and was co-pastor with Dr. Spring in the 
Brick Church, New York, where many keep his image next 
to God's in the memories of their salvation. He finished 
his course, a few years after, at Petersburg, Va., departing 
like sunset at the poles, where the last rays of the departing 
sun are the first of the new morn. 

We have already seen how his ministry in Richmond, as 
colleague with his brother, opened with revival blessing. 
The same blessing followed him everywhere to the end. An 
attractive glimpse of him engaged in the work he most loved, 
during his ministry in Baltimore, is given us in the following 
sketch by the late Rev. James D. Thomas : 

In 1845, when I was on my way to the Theological Sem- 
inary, I stopped at Newark, Del., to spend a few days with 
some friends. On reaching that place I found that the 
Rev. Dr. Vallandingham (brother of Hon. C. R. Valland- 
ingham, of Ohio) was in the midst of a work of grace in 
his church, and was assisted by the Rev. Dr. Backus, of 



200 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Baltimore. I stayed from day to day, entering fully into 
the spirit of the meeting with youthful ardor and anxious 
interest in many friends. The influences of this meeting 
extended into all the country around. Dr. Backus was 
obliged to return to Baltimore, but promised Dr. Valland- 
ingham to send him assistance. 

The night after Dr. Backus left, Dr. Vallandingham 
preached himself. He was nearing the close of his sermon, 
when I, sitting near some friends in the rear of the church, 
perceived that a gentleman, evidently a minister, had slip- 
ped into the house and seated himself near the door. There 
was something so exceedingly attractive about the man's 
appearance, his entire bearing and personal grace in every 
movement, that my attention was fixed upon him. It was 
soon evident to me that Dr. Vallandingham had seen him 
enter. He closed his sermon rather abruptly, gave out a 
hymn, and came quietly to the rear of the church, approach- 
ing this gentleman, who arose and extended his hand in a 
peculiarly impressive manner. I heard, as the two stood 
there hand in hand, the following conversation : "I suppose 
you are a brother sent by Dr. Backus to assist me." Dr. 
Hoge replied, "Yes, I am Dr. Hoge, 1 and I thank God thai 
I am here. I met Dr. Backus this morning on the street. 
He told me of the wonderful work of grace, and asked me 
if I could come, to your assistance. I had but a few hours 
to meet the train; but I hastened home, made all my ar- 
rangements for leaving, and am here now to help you, as 
far as God may give me the power." 

Dr. Vallandingham then said, "Thank God ; you are the 
very man for the work. Come forward, and at the close of 
the hymn make an address." As he passed to the platform, 
all eyes were fixed upon him, and all hearts, no doubt, went 
up for God's blessing from him. As the singing ceased, I 
can see him now, as he stood there, the embodiment of the 
true Christian minister of the word of God to a sinful 
world ; and from the moment he had opened his mouth he 
had won all hearts. 

Dr. Vallandingham had two churches ; one in town, the 
other in the country. As the influence of the meeting had 



1 The degree of Doctor of Divinity was not conferred upon him until 
he became professor in Union Theological Seminary. The mistake is 
natural on the part of one writing at a later time. 



William James Hoge. 201 

extended into the country, arrangements were made for 
preaching in the old mother church out in the country, 
"White Clay Creek," on the following Sabbath, morning 
and afternoon. This church was one of those in which 
Whitefield had preached, and where, as elsewhere under his 
ministry, many souls were brought to Christ. It was tra- 
ditional that when Whitefield was preaching there, doors 
open and windows taken out, there were several thousands 
gathered in the church and on the ground to hear the 
precious gospel from his lips, and that on a certain day, 
when the meeting had reached its climax, large numbers 
were brought to Christ. It was in September when Dr. 
Hoge was there. The weather was beautiful, and no larger 
or more impressive audience ever faced, possibly, any 
preacher of God's word in the rural districts of America. 

He was more than himself on that marvellous occasion, 
and gave to us, what he afterwards preached in book form, 
his lovely tract, Blind Bartimeus. We all know how charm- 
ing that book is, and many of your readers have often been 
fascinated by and swayed under the influence of Dr. Hoge's 
preaching. Possibly some of them may have heard him 
preach those sermons ; but I think it was my good fortune 
to have heard him preach them under the most inspiring 
circumstances, which lifted him into his fullest capacity. 
Well and gloriously did he do the Master's work that day 
in winning souls to Christ. There was no poor Bartimeus, 
nor was there a rich man there, who did not feel the power 
of the gospel. He preached the first half of it in the fore- 
noon, the latter half in the afternoon. He closed the first 
discourse with the remark, "If you are weary and hungry, 
we will close this sermon with the benediction, and when 
you hear me singing, come in again." 

All through the interval there was such solemn impres- 
sion and awakened conviction, that there were not many 
who partook of the midday meal. Every man and every 
woman was intently busy with his or her thoughts of won- 
der and of praise of God's great grace, or was striving to 
help others to appreciate in like manner the same. All at 
once we heard his rich voice singing some hymn of God, 
which reached to the recesses of the forest grounds ; and 
the great crowd silently and solemnly gathered about the 
building again. There they stood hanging upon his words 



202 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of eloquence and pathos, and as he would reach climax 
after climax of God's wondrous grace, man after man fell 
to the earth as if stricken with death. It was to the most 
of them, blessed be God, death to sin and life to righteous- 
ness. I do not know how many united with the several 
churches of that community, nor what were the results of 
after days in the extension and permanency of God's king- 
dom in that community; but such seed sown must have 
borne rich rewards of fruitfulness to the glory of God. 

Into my own life came an ideal of the gospel minister 
and the far-reaching powers of the gospel itself, which I 
trust have been an incentive to me to strive to preach better 
than I would otherwise have done. 

I have heard many, many brethren, some gone to glory, 
and some still living, who have moved me ofttimes to high 
states of spiritual joy by their presentations of truth; but 
I have never heard the truth preached as it was that day at 
old White Clay Creek Church, in Delaware, by Dr. William 
J. Hoge. 

The little book referred to was composed of sermons 
chiefly preached in Baltimore, but finished after he went to 
Union Seminary. In a very short time fifteen thousand 
copies had been issued in this country, and forty thousand by 
one of the several British publishers. It was afterwards pur- 
chased by the Tract Society, which still issues new editions. 
It has been translated into Portuguese and modern Greek, 
and one often meets with men who attribute to it their con- 
version, or ministers who testify to its forming influence in 
their views of gospel truth. 

When Dr. Hoge w T ent to New York, he went with the old 
gospel. In his preaching he knew but two classes — the saved 
and the unsaved. A "liberal" member of the congregation, 
soon after he came, remarked to a friend with some warmth, 
"If our new pastor keeps on preaching so, one thing is cer- 
tain, he will empty the church before six months are out." 
He kept on, and in less than six months camp chairs had to 
be purchased to place in the aisles, and he never preached 
that the church was not packed. 



William James Hoge. 



203; 



His joy in this ministry we have already seen in his let- 
ters to his brother. The joy of others in his ministry is 
testified to this day. Before him stretched a prospect of 
almost boundless usefulness. He was still in the flower of 
his youth ; his powers, notwithstanding their early maturity y 
were constantly expanding ; his mind poured forth its treas- 
ures like an exhaustless fountain ; there was no limit to his 
sympathies, and his warm, glowing personality impressed 
itself directly and spontaneously, like light or heat. The 
common people heard him gladly ; and no less gladly the cul- 
tured and the learned. 

When the shadow of the war fell across this bright pros- 
pect, his soul was troubled. His heart was with his own 
people in the South, but the vows of God were upon him, 
and as long as his people would receive the gospel at his lips,, 
no political or personal consideration could be allowed to 
break the bond. The things of the kingdom must be first. 
The pulpits of the city were ringing with politics; he 
preached the gospel. Crowds greater than before hung on 
his ministry, for there were thousands in that great city who 
were asking for bread and receiving stones. If it was his 
mission to feed them he would stay at any cost; though 
friends in the South were already murmuring. At length 
there came a day when his colleague had declared his politi- 
cal views in the morning service, and an expectant crowd 
gathered in the afternoon to hear Dr. Hoge, thinking that 
now he must speak. He made no allusion of any kind to 
what was in the minds of all until he gave out the hymn be- 
fore the sermon. It was Cowper's well-known hymn, 
"There is a fountain filled with blood." He read until he 
came to the last verse, when he closed the book, took a step 
back from the pulpit, and repeated : 

" Ere since by faith I saw the stream 
Thy flowing wounds supply, 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 
And shall be till I die/' 



204 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



All knew then that they would get no politics in that ser- 
mon ! 

All this time Dr. Hoge had his resignation in his pocket 
waiting for some sign that the harmony with his people was 
broken. At last it came — no matter now, how, or from 
whom. His resignation was offered, and accepted. The 
newspaper report of the meeting said there were "about one 
hundred persons present." By the actual count of one of the 
officers of the church there were thirty. 1 

And so this effort to "seek first the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness," even in these stormy times, failed. But 
one may feel thankful that there was found a man who tried. 
Nor was the effort unappreciated. The church to which he 
ministered would have overwhelmingly sustained him had 
he let it come to an issue. Gentlemen of the highest stand- 
ing came forward with the proposition to build him a church, 
and meanwhile rent any hall in the city, if only he would 
remain in New York. Others thought that when the war 
was over — little thinking how long the struggle was to be, 
nor how wide the chasm that would be created; thinking 
still less that he would not survive it — that when the war was 
over, they would "build him the biggest church in New 
York, and call him back." 

There lies before us now a pile of notes and letters ; many 
of them from members of his church, pouring out their 
hearts in love and gratitude and sorrow; but many from 
strangers commending his course, and deploring the mad- 
ness of the times in which it was possible that "a faithful 
minister of the gospel may be proscribed for his private, un- 
obtruded political views." 

His farewell discourse was delivered on the 21st of July. 
It was a calm and noble testimony against the preaching of 

1 This meeting took place after he had left the city. His friends man- 
ifested their sentiment by absenting themselves from the regular meet- 
ing, and by a separate informal meeting in which they endorsed his 
course. 



William James Hoge. 205 

anything but the religion of Christ from a Christian pulpit. 
As the turning point of his life, and a reflection of the times, 
a few extracts will not be inappropriate. 

In defending his own course, he states that as a citizen, he 
had first studied the questions of the day and formed his 
own opinions ; that as a free citizen in a free republic, he had 
a right, not questionable by any other citizen, firmly to hold 
and calmly to express his opinions ; but that he had not for- 
gotten, meantime, that he was also a minister of the gospel, 
and that therefore it became him to utter his opinions unob- 
trusively, "giving no offense in anything that the ministry 
be not blamed." 

As a preacher of God's word and pastor of that church, his 
course included his public prayers and public discourses. In 
his prayers he had poured out his soul "with tears and an- 
guish for this whole land from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific." He had prayed for the 
President of the United States (though the contrary had 
been asserted) and for all in authority. He had also prayed 
for the authorities of the Confederate States, in obedience 
to the divine command to pray for all men, and all that are 
in authority. 

But what special blessing have I sought for all these 
men, North and South, who hold so much of our happiness 
and destiny in their hands? 

That in every heart God would shine and reign; that 
they might have wisdom to know what is right, and grace 
to do what is right ; that all that is wrong in any of them 
might be rectified, and all that is right confirmed ; in brief, 
that all rulers and all people in this broad country might 
fear the God of heaven, and so be guided in doing his 
blessed will that the whole land and the whole world might 
be filled and covered with the divine glory. 

Then, as to your beloved sons and brothers, your tears 
and audible weeping have, more than once, borne me wit- 
ness how I have pleaded that they might be preserved from 
all evil, and especially from sin ; that the godly among 
them might be bright in grace and very fruitful in right- 



206 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



eousness ; that the impenitent might be prepared, through 
grace, for all the perils of war; and that God would 
speedily restore them all, in honor and righteousness, to 
the sweet sanctities of home and the house of God. And I 
have added, "Extend these blessings to all who are dear to 
any of us." Was not this right? And did it not include 
many, many, dear not to me alone, but to many families in 
this congregation? And is not every one of these prayers 
according to the law and spirit of Christ? 

And now, as to my sermons : they have simply been, as 
far as I had strength to make them, scriptural, gospel 
sermons. 

When you called me you knew me only from testimony, 
from my sermon in the Academy of Music, from another 
which a few of you heard in the late Dr. Alexander's 
lecture-room, from the report of your committee who 
visited me in Virginia, and from a little book which many 
of you were led to examine at that time — Blind Bartimeus. 
Now, I am sure, you never heard of me as a preacher of 
anything but the gospel; and in the volume to which I 
have referred, you read, if you chose to read it at all, the 
following language: "They have let him (Bartimeus) know 
that the Healer of the blind is near; and I am sure that 
nothing they could say about anything else could make up 
for not telling him that. The most eloquent harangue on 
the politics of the times, though Pilate and Herod and 
Caesar, and Roman eagles, and Jewish banners, and liberty, 
and nationality and destiny, had rolled with splendid im- 
agery through sounding periods, would have been a sad 
exchange for those simple words, 'J esus of Nazareth pass- 
eth by/ Nor would Aristotle's keenest logic, nor Plato's 
finest speculations, have served a whit better. The man 
was blind, and wanted his eyes opened ; and till this was 
done, these things, however set forth, were but trash and 
mockery." 

In a series of incontrovertible propositions he sets forth 
the evils of political preaching, and concludes : 

I fear we are just beginning to reap the bitter fruits 
which political preaching and political action in our eccle- 
siastical courts are to bring forth. I dare not omit saying 
this. I would lift my poor voice and warn my countrymen, 



William James Hoge. 207 

and especially my countrymen in the more blessed citizen- 
ship of Zion. May God raise mightier voices than mine 
everywhere to sound the alarm before all our churches are 
made fearful and scandalous spectacles of strife and con- 
fusion, and God's blessed Spirit is grieved utterly away ! 

That the majority of this people agree with me here, I 
hope, I believe. They do not agree politically with me, 
but they feel that this should not part us while I love them 
and preach Christ to them. 

And God knows my heart, that I do love them, and with 
a fervor I cannot express. Why should I not? My 
brethren, you have been kind to me with a kindness which 
I shall remember gratefully forever. I may not forget the 
night of my sudden calamity, 1 and the day of your rallying 
around me with a unanimity and generosity which well- 
nigh took away my power to thank you. Nor does this 
great manifestation of your generous love stand alone. 
My whole pathway, even to this hour, has been covered 
with it. Nay, its manifested depths and tenderness at this 
hour make this farewell service the heaviest task of my 
life. 

Wherever my lot may be cast, I feel, and my family feel 
it equally, that we can never be surrounded by a people 
in whose noble faithfulness and love our hearts could 
repose with more comfort, even to the end of life. 

Why, then, do I go? I have been constantly met with 
the sad inquiry from those whose grief, in the sundering 
of this solemn relation, is too sacred to be slighted. "Why 
is this? What have we done that we should lose our 
pastor without an opportunity to protest or prevent?" A 
deep feeling of undeserved injury seems to pervade many 
hearts, and I have no right to leave the burden of this 
injury anywhere but just where it belongs. 

I will first, for I have nothing to conceal, say that, ever 
since the beginning of this national conflict, my heart has 
yearned towards my beloved South, and especially the dear 
Commonwealth of Virginia. I have longed to share their 
privations, their dangers, and their destiny, whether of hu- 
miliation or triumph; but all these feelings I was ready 
to sacrifice on the altar of Christ and His cause. And I did 

^hen his house was burned to the ground, with all its contents, 
his family only escaping with their lives. 



208 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



sacrifice them. God gave me the joyous capacity to absorb 
myself in my work as a Christian minister. Having abun- 
dantly declared, by my conduct and in this discourse, that 
I place this sacred relation of pastor and people above 
every national question, I could never have severed it for 
such a cause as this, weighty though I feel it to be in itself. 

Then in a few words he stated, with delicate considera- 
tion for others, the steps that led to his resignation, and the 
reasons why he must insist upon it even should an over- 
whelming majority vote against it. That which had occur- 
red had been sufficient to make his way plain : 

For weeks past my incessant cry to God has been for 
light, that I might know my duty, just my duty. It has 
been a time of great perplexity ; but I believe God has an- 
swered my prayer. The light shines. My path is plain. 
I have no hesitation in taking it. "The Lord is my shep- 
herd." He is "my light and my salvation." 

While he was preaching this sermon the battle of Ma- 
nassas was raging. The next afternoon had been set for a 
farewell reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Meanwhile 
the news of the battle had come, and he expected that the 
attendance would be confined to his most intimate friends; 
but they came in such numbers that they had to resort to a 
larger room, where the stream continued to flow for four 
hours. Now and then there would be one whose joy in the 
Southern victory would show itself in a flash of the eye and 
a more convulsive grasp of the hand, but the most of those 
who came were in sympathy with the Union, but came to say 
farewell to the man that they loved and honored, and espe- 
cially to endorse the stand he had taken for the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. 

Meanwhile, in the great lobbies of the hotel, a vast and 
excited crowd were discussing the tremendous issues of the 
day, and getting wind of what was going on upstairs, at- 
tempted to ridicule by mocking placards, or to interrupt by 
their noisy presence, the quiet of these solemn farewells ; but 



William James Hoge. 209 

by the vigilance of the proprietor and some of the gentlemen 
who were present all serious annoyance was avoided. In the 
excited state of public feeling a spark might have kindled a 
conflagration. 

The next day he started with his family 1 on the long 
journey through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky 
and Tennessee, a faithful friend accompanying them to 
Nashville to see that they were not interfered with while in 
the Northern lines. By this detour they at length reached 
Richmond in safety. 

But on the long, sad journey they had their first terrible 
realization of what the war meant, and at what a price vic- 
tory had been purchased. In the list of the killed they saw 
first the names of two dear cousins of Mrs. Hoge — the only 
nephews of her mother — and then of her beloved brother, 
Peyton Randolph Harrison. 

Within the quiet haven of his brother's home in Rich- 
mond their hearts were made to glow with pride in the 
midst of their deep sorrow, as he tenderly told the thrilling 
story of how her brother and cousins had died — successfully 
rallying their company, thrown into confusion and almost 
retreat by a mistaken order ; and how, when they were bear- 
ing Lieutenant Harrison from the field, he said, "Lay me 
down; I am ready to die; you can do no more for me. 
Rally to the charge!" 

But another sacrifice was before them. Their beautiful 
little Dabney, wilting under the heat and fatigue of the long 
journey and change of climate, sickened and died. In this 
bereavement nothing could exceed the delicate consideration 
and sympathy of his brother Moses and his family. By a 
happy Providence, Mrs. Hoge's brother, Dabney Carr Har- 

1 His family then consisted, besides Mrs. Hoge, of the two older 
children, whose births were announced on page 108. and three children 
of his second marriage; Mary Swift (named for his first wife), born in 
Baltimore. October 15, 1855; Peyton Harrison, born at Hampden- 
Sidney. January 6, 1858, and Dabney Carr, born in New York, February 
24, i860. 



210 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



rison, was there, and thus the last time they saw him was 
when he assisted in laying his little namesake to rest. They 
buried him in beautiful Hollywood, where Dr. Moses Hoge's 
two babes were already sleeping — in the spot where so many 
of the hearts, then torn and sad, have since found their rest- 
ing place. 

Passing through Richmond a few weeks later, Dr. Wil- 
liam Hoge wrote his wife : 

At six o'clock of this balmy, golden evening, Moses took 
me in his buggy to Hollywood. We reached the grave 
about the same time as when we went to lay our little 
darling there. As we stopped by it, I exclaimed, "Oh ! it 
has been covered this evening with fresh flowers," while 
my eyes filled with tears ; "did you do it, brother ?" He 
smiled pleasantly, but said nothing. I pressed his hand 
tenderly, and then got out and took my seat by the lowly 
bed of our pretty little boy. With delicate consideration he 
drove away, and left me to press and kiss the little precious 
mound unobserved. All the loose earth had been removed, 
and the place looked clean and fresh. The mound had 
been newly made, of finer mould, free from stones. The 
original wreaths, faded indeed, were in their old places, 
while fresh roses and evergreens had been added. I was 
moved by these tokens of delicate care. I longed for you, 
that we might share together the melancholy luxury of 
musing there, and caressing even the earth and flowers 
that cover that precious form. The river was roaring on 
as ever, and the blessed evening was bathing our little 
one's resting place with freshness, fragrance and beauty. 
I found that brother had risen from his half-eaten dinner, 
driven out there, found a workman who brought the softer 
mould and disposed it at his direction, while his hands 
had gathered and arranged the fresh flowers. I send 
you what I selected for you. Dear, good brother ! he did 
this just before having to lecture, and then took the drive 
again. 

Dr. Hoge was soon settled in temporary charge of the 
Charlottesville church, but there the sorrows of his wife's 
family, which was as his own, fell thick and fast. The death 



William James Hoge. 



211 



of her brother Dabney at Fort Donelson was quickly fol- 
lowed by that of a lovely young sister, just blooming into 
womanhood; and this by the death of another sister — the 
bride of a year — whose marriage in the Brick Church to 
Major R. W. Hunter, an officer in the Virginia Volunteers, 
had excited a peculiar and pathetic interest among those who 
read the signs of the times. Another year passed and her 
eldest brother, Randolph, was added to the list of those 
whom they gave to the Confederate cause. With all this 
sorrow, Dr. Hoge wrote to his brother : "Yet our gracious, 
covenant-keeping God has so been with us in trouble, guid- 
ing, sustaining, cheering us, and crowning us with loving- 
kindness, that our hearts would be cold and base indeed, if 
we did not acknowledge his mercy with thankfulness and 
joy." So overflowing, indeed, were his sympathies that 
there were no circumstances in which his character shone 
out with purer light than when he was comforting those 
hearts filled with sorrow, and lifting up the eyes of the 
afflicted to the loving face of the Saviour, who was all in all 
to him. 

In Charlottesville, too, he had congenial society in which 
he took great delight. Dr. McGuffey, under whom he had 
studied theology in Athens, Ohio, was ever a stimulating 
companion. He spent one summer in the house with Dr. 
Gildersleeve, studying with him the Gospel of John, enjoy- 
ing his exquisite linguistic insight, and contributing himself 
no less exquisite spiritual comment. 

And when occasion arose, all the natural joyousness of 
his nature bubbled up, and he could be a boy again. He was 
always so with children; and among men no one more 
enjoyed a flow of spontaneous, innocent fun. 

Once a rumor of a hostile raid called out the "reserves" 
to protect the town. The rumor proved a mistake, but 
while they were waiting he dispatched this note by his son 
Addison, who came out with Theodorick Pryor to bring the 
acknowledged dinner : 



212 Moses Drury Hoge. 

Camp "Micawber" (so named by Frank Carr because 
we are waiting for "something to turn up.") 

Monday, May 4, 1863. 

Give many thanks, my darling, to Mrs. H for her 

excellent and abundant dinner. It was spread on a mossy 
bank, dappled by sunshine and shade. Very choice was the 
company which partook of it — Cousin Frank, Professor 
Minor, Professor Holmes, Professor Smith, and Mr. 
Stevenson, of Petersburg. Of course, we had much "attic 
salt" to season our viands — apt quotations, nice allusions, 
snatches of song, not to speak of puns. Just this moment, 
for example, I hear Professor Smith saying, "The trees are 
all leaving, but the men are standing firm." "Or rather," 
suggests Professor Holmes, in allusion to the false rumors 
flying so thickly, "the men are lying still." 

There seems to be little prospect of our seeing the enemy, 
though it is difficult to learn, with any certainty, his move- 
ments. As soon as we knozv they are not coming, I suppose 
we will march home and our campaign be ended. 

But his greatest joy in these times was found in his trips 
to the camps to preach to the soldiers. An extract from his 
"journalized" letter to his wife of one of these visits will be 
of interest : 

Major-General Rodes' Headquarters, 
Friday, May 22, 1863. 
[After telling of his call to the Tabb Street Church, Petersburg, he 
takes up his narrative.] 

Now let me take up my story where I laid it down last 
Monday. That day I rested from my Sabbath labor, and 
attended a review of the whole division. The ladies and I 
occupied an eminence which commanded the whole field. 
The day was fine, the bands played well, and the young 
general acquitted himself very handsomely. The whole 
affair rather surpassed my expectations. 

Tuesday opened my regular campaign. Did I tell you 
the General's admirable plan for my work? I have heard 
of none like it in the army, and it seems to me all that any 
general could do, or any preacher wish. A preaching camp 
is prepared by the pioneer corps in each brigade, and the 
whole brigade, officers and men, are marched to the place. 
This always secures me a good audience, and, as it takes 
the place of regular drill, is acceptable, I understand, to all 



William James Hoge. 213 

concerned. How I wish you could see my "Alabama 
Church," in General Rodes' old brigade ! I wanted you so 
much to be there at the opening services. It is, indeed, a 
beautiful spot, on a sloping hill-side in a shady grove. The 
hill curves around somewhat in the form of an amphi- 
theatre, and when I stand on my substantial rustic pulpit, 
a sea of faces rises around me in the best possible position 
for hearing. All the men were Alabamians, and seemed 
charmed with the name I gave the church. I spoke to 
them of their beautiful State and river, and strove to touch 
their hearts with the memory of their homes and houses 
of worship ; then of the musical beauty of the Indian word, 
"Alabama ;" of its traditional meaning, "Here we rest ;" 
of the appropriateness of applying it to this green and 
shady hillside, which we were about to consecrate to the 
worship of the God of peace; of the providential mercy, 
which, having sheltered them amidst the horrible tempest 
of battle, had brought them to this quiet resting spot, and 
these gracious services ; of my hope that here they might 
find rest for their souls, from all the perturbations of an 
evil conscience, rest at the mercy-seat, rest at the cross, 
which was now to be planted here; that this spot might 
be hallowed evermore in the memory of many a man as the 
place of his spiritual birth, and so become "Alabama" to 
his heart in a new and precious sense; and that, as this 
sweet Indian word had been adopted into our Christian 
speech, so it might be consecrated with a yet higher bap- 
tism, and find its place in the language of Canaan, when 
they should forever rest in the blessedness of that rest 
which remaineth for the people of God. 

Wednesday I had a pleasant service in General Ram- 
seur's brigade, and yesterday a very laborious one in Gen- 
eral Dole's brigade. For the first time, we had a hot day, 
and his camp had little shade. This caused the men to 
scatter a good deal to get seats out of the sun, and made it 
a great effort to speak to them. To-day I rest. In Ram- 
seur's brigade we had a brass band, which plays sacred 
music as an accompaniment to the singers. It has a very 
inspiring sound in the forest. 

On Tuesday, I attended the chaplains' regular weekly 
meetings, after my preaching, and found it delightful and 
edifying. Some of them made me cry, and I made some of 
them cry. 



214 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



The move to Petersburg, which took place the following' 
fall, had many advantages that he highly prized. Not only 
was the Tabb Street Church one of the most important 
churches in Virginia, but the military operations that year 
made Petersburg the centre for large bodies of troops, and 
gave him the opportunity he most coveted, of preaching to 
the soldiers. One of the pictures that stands out amid the 
memories of childhood is that church and its Sunday congre- 
gation. The body of the large audience-room filled with 
the members of the church and the people of the city, with 
here and there the uniform of an army officer; the gallery 
to the preacher's left filled with long rows of dusky faces, 
while that on his right was banked with rank upon rank of 
gray uniforms. When they rose to prayer, they looked like 
a line of battle. And in the feast that he always spread be- 
fore them there was something for all — for citizens and sol- 
diers, for the humble slave, and even for the little children. 
The church, that had been troubled by dissensions,, was 
melted into love and unity by the outpouring of his great, 
loving heart ; the soldier went back to his camp stronger for 
duty or danger, with quickened memories of his home, and 
quickened hopes of a home in heaven ; the slave was made 
to feel that in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free; 
and the little child learned to love the Good Shepherd, who 
gave his life for the sheep and gathered the lambs with his 
arms. 

But while his pulpit and pastoral work were enough to 
absorb his energies, he spent himself in preaching in the 
camps and visiting the hospitals. With sick and dying men 
all around him, how could he spare himself, when he knew 
that wherever he went he carried with him balm and help 
and healing? The springs of his apparently exhaustless 
vitality began to run low — but still he toiled on. At last 
disease laid its hand upon him, and he had to stop. In ordi- 
nary times he could have recovered, but Grant's movement 
on Richmond from the South had begun; Petersburg be- 



William James Hoge. 215 

came the storm centre, and the enemy were shelling the town. 
The physician said he must be moved, and in an army ambu- 
lance he was taken to "Dellwood," the hospitable home of 
Mr. James Jones, in Chesterfield. Soon after, both the 
church and the manse were struck by shells. 

At first the fresher air of the country seemed to revive 
him. But his physician was taken ill, the army surgeon 
called in was ignorant, and to that ignorance he was sac- 
rificed. When his own physician could come to him again, 
it was too late. But God rules, and from that painful subject 
let us turn to the glory of that dying chamber. His brother 
published the story at the time, with a sketch of his life and 
character by Dr. Moore, under the title, "The Victory Won," 
and circulated it in the army : 

When I entered his chamber, after embracing me ten- 
derly, his first words were : "Brother, there has been much 
that was bitter in this dispensation, but I would not have 
escaped it if I could, because it has taught me so much of 
the love of Christ. More confidently than ever can I say, I 
know that I love Him." 

He seemed physically stronger than I expected to find 
him, and so natural was his appearance, so cheerful, and 
occasionally even playful, was his conversation, that I was 
inclined to hope he might yet recover. This hope was 
strengthened by the conviction that the God in whose ser- 
vice he delighted would not cut him off in the flower of his 
days and in the midst of his usefulness, while so great a 
work for the country and the church remained yet to be 
accomplished. 

But the next day (Monday) he was evidently much 
worse. He was passing through deep waters. Occasionally 
his mind wandered, but a remark made to him, especially 
on any religious topic, would quickly recall him to his con- 
sciousness, and he would become quite rational again. 

But the springs of life were giving way, and there was 
much concurrent mental depression. He did not indeed 
utter any expression intimating the slightest spiritual de- 
jection, but he said so little that was indicative of the con- 
trary that I frequently found myself asking, during the 



6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



day, whether it was probable that he would be permitted 
to pass away without communicating his feelings in ref- 
erence to death, and his wishes in our behalf, so soon to be 
separated from him. Without attaching any undue im- 
portance to death-bed exercises, where the life has been 
eminently Christian, still I could not but hope that God 
would permit one whose piety was so mature, whose love to 
Christ was so absorbing, and whose spiritual tone had been 
habitually so elevated and joyous, to leave behind him some 
dying testimony that might add to the consolation of sur- 
vivors. But not upon this day was it given him to bear 
such testimony as our hearts craved, although there was 
much in his conversation that denoted humble acquies- 
cence in the divine will and earnest devotion to the divine 
glory. 

The morning of Tuesday, the 5th, dawned in cloudless 
beauty. The increasing light revealed the change which 
a single night had wrought in his appearance. He was 
evidently sinking, and yet the expression of physical dis- 
tress which his face had worn the previous day had entirely 
passed away. His eye was bright, his countenance was 
serene, and his intellect unclouded. When he saw me 
sitting at his bedside, he greeted me lovingly, and began to 
remark upon the extreme beauty of the opening morning. 
His love of nature, cultivated and developed by communion 
with the great Author of nature, and by the study of 
whatever was beautiful in His works, was to him a source 
of universal enjoyment. From the window near which he 
lay, he could look out upon the waving woods and the 
transparent sky, and drinking in refreshment from the 
scene, he began, as his custom was, to admire these man- 
ifestations of the glory of God as displayed in His visible 
creation. 

Yet placid and peaceful as he was, there were unmistak- 
able indications that he would probably not see the noon of 
the day which had dawned so tranquilly, and his family and 
friends and the servants of the household began to assem- 
ble in his room. 

Looking around, he asked, "Why are so many of you 
gathered about me at this early hour of the day?" I re- 
plied, "Because the doctor tells us that you are not to be 
with us much longer, and we wish to be near you while we 



William James Hoge. 217 

can, and to hear whatever you may desire to say at such 
a time." 

"Is it decided/' he asked, "that I am near my end?" I 
told him that was the doctor's opinion. He smiled very 
sweetly, and said, "Could I have my way I would go to 
heaven now — now" (looking up and clasping his hands) ; 
"how sweet it would be to be permitted to go at once, and 
be with my Saviour. And yet I am somewhat surprised 
at this announcement, for I passed such a comfortable 
night, and am so free from pain this morning that I do not 
feel as if I were dying. Had I known it sooner, I might 
have spent more time in prayer, but there has been no hour 
in which I could not say, 'Father, thy will be done.' " Then 
his thoughts were evidently attracted heavenward again, 
and toward Him who had been the supreme object of his 
love and the chief theme of his preaching, for he added, "I 
could tell of Jonathan Edwards, and of many wonderful 
authors and poets, but they are all comparatively low down 
—Christ ! Christ ! Oh ! the glory of Christ I" 

I will not lift the veil which should rest upon his parting 
interview with the members of his immediate family, nor 
attempt to describe the unutterable tenderness of the scene. 
Suffice it to say that these addresses were unspeakably 
touching and solemn, almost entirely scriptural in their 
phraseology (unconsciously so), and strikingly adapted to 
the different ages, trials and duties of each. His servants 
were not forgotten in these parting admonitions. They 
belonged to a class to whom it was his special delight to 
preach while in health, and now, in his dying counsels, he 
affectionately remembered them. 

After expressing his warm personal regard to his physi- 
cians, and his earnest wishes for their spiritual welfare, 
he exclaimed, "Oh ! that all physicians were faithful in 
trying to bring their patients to Christ," and then he added, 
""Why are not ministers more plain and simple in their pre- 
sentation of the plan of salvation?" and then (illustrating 
with the finger of one hand upon the open palm of the 
other, the imaginary positions he assigned to each) he said, 
"Here stands the sinner, and here the Saviour inviting him 
to come. All that the sinner has to do is to pass from this 
point to this, and the work is done. The way of life is just 
as simple as that." 



218 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



After sending loving messages to many absent relations 
and friends, and expressing the hope that his death would 
be sanctified to the conversion of some in whom he felt a 
peculiar interest, he requested that preparation should be 
made for the baptism of his little son William, 1 an infant 
about four months old. While these were making, he said, 
"My death will be as easy as the baptism of this child. 
Both death and baptism are consecrations to the Lord."" 
When all was ready, he did not wait for me to propound 
the usual questions, but, in a manner inexpressibly tender 
and reverential, he pronounced the vows for himself and 
wife ; and after the service was over, he said, "Now take 
my little boy and place him in the sunlight !" I took him to 
the window, where the beams of the rising sun were shin- 
ing brightly, and held the child for a few moments in the 
immediate rays. He had just pronounced upon him the 
Old Testament benediction, containing the words, "The 
Lord make his face to shine upon you !" He gazed at him 
with unutterable fondness and admiration, while, with bare 
arms and head illumined by the radiance as with a halo, he 
disported himself in the fresh air and golden light of the 
morning, and then said, "Does not his face shine like sil- 
ver ? That is what it is for His face to shine upon us." 2 

He then dictated the following message to his church 
and its elders : 

"My dear people, I have not preached to you as I ex- 
pected and would have done in a more quiet and regular 
pastorate. I have not presented such trains of thought, or 
discussed truths in as thorough and orderly manner as I 
desired. My preaching has been less doctrinal and sys- 
tematic than was my purpose. My reason for this is, that I 
have had to 'preach to the times/ using that phrase in its 
best sense — in the sense of having to comfort and encour- 
age the afflicted, and often I have found my church so full 
of soldiers that I have had to turn aside and preach ex- 
clusively to them." Just here his voice grew weaker, and 
I could not catch some sentences expressive of affection 
for the people of his charge, and his sense of their kindness 
to him. He then resumed, "The elders which are among 



1 Born in Petersburg, March I, 1864. 

2 Dr. Hoge failed to catch this, and in the published sketch it was- 
narrated somewhat differently. 



{ 



William James Hoge. 219 

you, I exhort, who am also an elder, feed the flock of God. 
The burden now comes heavy upon you. You bear it 
alone." And then followed a message to them of a private 
nature, which I need not here repeat. 

After his pillows were readjusted and a change made in 
his position in the bed, and some refreshment was admin- 
istered to him, he made this singular observation, "There 
are many little things which seem insignificant in them- 
selves, but which are done for my comfort, which give me 
pleasure from the thought that I shall now have no more 
need of this, and now I am done with that forever." 

These, and other conversations not here related, continued 
during the morning, interspersed with intervals of silence — 
silence occasionally broken by the distant thunder of the 
guns of the enemy, shelling the town — in which he seemed 
absorbed in meditation and communion with God, When 
only his lips moved, and no sound could be heard. After 
one of these pauses he requested that trie seventh chapter 
of Revelation should be read, commencing with the ninth 
verse, "After this, I beheld, and lo ! a great multitude which 
no man could number," etc. As I read it slowly, his hands 
were extended, and his face beamed with a light and joy 
almost seraphic. When I ended, he said, "That almost car- 
ried me away. I was there among the heavenly worship- 
pers. The remnant of my poor body is here, I know, but 
I was with them in spirit, and I saw it — I saw it. That 
chapter is enough — all that is blessed is there. Well did I 
say this is a glorious morning. There is more to attract 
me to heaven than to bind me to earth, and yet there are 
many on earth still very dear to me." 

As eleven o'clock approached, he desired us to sing for 
him. As well as we could command our voices, we com- 
plied, and sang a part of the hymn, "How firm a founda- 
tion, ye saints of the Lord," after which he remarked, "As 
I said about that chapter, so I say of this hymn, it is 
enough; all that is comforting in the assurance of the 
divine love and care seems to be there ; nothing is omitted." 

Those who knew his almost passionate fondness for 
music, and who have listened to his own voice, when, like 
the pealing notes of an organ, it rose and swelled in the 
worship of God in the great congregation, can best imagine 
how affecting it was to us when we began to sing the 



220 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



hymn, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds," and when 
he, no longer able to listen in silence, began to sing himself, 
with a voice at first tremulous, uncertain and husky, and 
sometimes not even striking the chords correctly ; but, as 
we passed from verse to verse, his spirit catching the in- 
spiration of the sentiment, and the noble elevation of feel- 
ing giving strength and volume to his voice, he poured his 
whole soul into the sound, as he sung with us the last two 
lines of the stanza — 

" Weak is the effort of my heart, 
And cold my warmest thought, 
But when I see thee as thou art, 
I'll praise thee as I ought." 

Never can I forget his manner, so rapt, so full of holy 
triumph, as he joined with us in the words — 

" Till then I would thy love proclaim 
With every fleeting breath;" 

his face beamed with a joy which I thought no earthly 
countenance could express, and his voice grew deeper, mel- 
lower and fuller as he said : 

" And may the music of thy name 
Refresh my soul in death." 

After a brief pause, he said, "I know little of music now, 
but soon I shall be listening to the diapason of the uni- 
verse !" 

After lying silent a while, with his eyes closed, he opened 
them very wide, and seemed to gaze intensely on objects 
around him, and said, "It is dark — dark; but never mind 
that; it is only natural darkness. I am dead, physically 
dead, but spiritually alive in Christ Jesus — forevermore." 

He had little more to say after this. What more was 
there to say ? He closed his eyes, and continued to breathe 
more and more softly, until, a little after eleven o'clock, he 
fell asleep in Jesus. 

That evening about dusk his body was placed in an am- 
bulance, and I brought it over to Richmond. It was a 
lonely ride, through the dim woods, and along the intricate 
roads of Chesterfield county, as I lay stretched on the straw 
alongside the body of my dead brother; and I had full 
leisure to contemplate the greatness of my loss. We 



William James Hoge. 



221 



reached Richmond as day was breaking. The funeral ser- 
vices took place from my church at ten o'clock (it was not 
possible to hold any in Petersburg), at which most affect- 
ing and impressive addresses were made by Rev. Drs. 
Moore and Leyburn; and he was then buried in Holly- 
wood Cemetery, near the grave of a little boy of his own 
who sickened and died from exposure to heat and fatigue 
consequent upon the long journey to Virginia (via Nash- 
ville) from New York, when he resigned his pastoral 
charge in that city, in the summer of 1861. 

I have felt a mournful pleasure in the preparation of this 
sketch ; one heightened by the desire that its perusal may 
be the means of confirming the faith and animating the 
hope of some who perchance have all their lives been sub- 
ject to bondage through fear of death. The same grace 
which rendered the subject of this tribute triumphant over 
the last enemy, will be sufficient for all who rely on it, and 
who live as near to the cross as he did. 

Upon but one other does this bereavement fall more 
heavily than on myself. He was my only brother, and 
apart from natural affection, there was much to cement our 
attachment in similarity of tastes, education and calling in 
life. The providence that removed him is inscrutably 
mysterious, but it is none the less wise, and holy, and kind 
on that account ; and, as I acquiesce in it, unmurmuringly, 
I do not forget his own parting words to me, "Our inter- 
course has been sweet on earth ; may it be so forever." 

Very truly yours, Moses D. Hoge. 

Another picture arises from memory. The solemn scenes 
in the dying chamber are over, and the yet more solemn 
stillness of death has succeeded to the voice of praise. One 
and another have gone apart where grief or duty called them ; 
but the brother, who had in an hour of danger once com- 
mitted his own children to his brother's care, now gathers 
the fatherless ones around him, and speaks to them of the 
father they had lost and of the heavenly Father who was 
still with them. "One by one," he said, "you will give your- 
selves to his service; first Lacy, then Addison, then Mary, 
then Peyton, and then little William." "And the Lord . . . 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



did let none of his words fall to the ground," though the last 
was first, winning the crown without the conflict. 

With a few extracts from Dr. Moore's sketch, and a noble 
letter from the late Dr. Henry C. Alexander, we close this 
chapter : 

His character was so simple, transparent and child-like 
that it requires no skill for its analysis, and his usefulness 
was so directly connected with that character, as it was 
unfolded by nature and grace, that the one is completely 
explained by the other. 

He was blessed with fine physical endowments. His 
bright face, with its sparkling eyes and blooming cheek, 
gave token of a system that had never felt the depressing 
influence of chronic disease, whilst his well-knit and stal- 
wart frame seemed capable of any amount of labor. This 
gave him a ceaseless flow of animal spirits, that seemed 
ever gushing up, like a fountain, in the exuberance of its 
enjoyment of everything fair and beautiful in nature, so 
that he had an exquisite relish of life that was contagious, 
and gave special charm to his society. His voice was one 
of unusual compass and power, and few who ever heard its 
deep, organ-like notes in singing, or its clarion ring when 
excited in speaking, can soon forget its rich and musical 
inflections. These physical advantages contributed largely 
to his success as a preacher. 

His mind was characterized rather by symmetry of de- 
velopment than the predominance of any single power. 
The logical and imaginative faculties were so evenly bal- 
anced, that had either been in deficiency, he would have 
faeen noted for the possession of the other. A ripe, schol- 
arly culture gave the chastening finish to both. He had a 
rich vein of playful wit, unmingled with the bitterness of 
sarcasm, which, especially in private, was ever throwing 
around every topic it touched the bright sparkle of its 
fancies, lighting it up with its brilliant coruscations, but 
leaving no sting or blister behind. These mental endow- 
ments gave a peculiar charm to his private intercourse, as 
well as his public services. 

But the main elements of his success lay in his emotional 
nature. He had naturally a large, manly heart, full of 
genial and generous emotions, that lifted him above all 



William James Hoge. 



223 



littleness or jealousy of feeling, and made him love rather 
to "raise mortals to the skies" than to "pull angels down." 
His range of sympathy was a very broad one, enabling him 
to rejoice with the joyful, and mourn with the sorrowful, 
to mingle his feelings with the ripe and often saddened 
musings of hoary age, and enter into the gushing gladness 
of childhood, as if himself a little child. This quick sym- 
pathy with youth gave him a rare power to attract the affec- 
tions of the young and lead them to the great Shepherd. 

To these natural gifts was added a large measure of the 
grace of God. He had what we may almost call a personal 
love for Jesus, that made Christ the great theme of his 
preaching, and largely of his conversation, and a love of 
souls that never seemed to weary of efforts to save them ; 
a faith that seemed never to have been crippled by dark 
wrestlings with unbelief, and which seemed to feed upon 
the living word, not only in the critical study of it, but in 
the joyous use of it, so that his mind, heart and very vocab- 
ulary became saturated with its spirit and language; and 
a hope that shone like a morning star, growing brighter 
and brighter, until it faded, not into the darkness of the 
grave, but rather into the brightness of that day that has 
neither sunset nor cloud for evermore. 

Charlotte C. H., August 1, 1864. 
Rev. Moses D. Hoge, D.D., 

My Dear Sir: If I have delayed this expression of my 
mournful feelings, it is not (I am sure you know already) 
from any lack of sympathy with you in the great affliction 
God has sent upon you. When my attention was first 
called to the announcement of your dear brother's funeral, 
in one of the daily papers, I was overwhelmed with amaze- 
ment ; I might almost say, horror. I felt as if some large 
and beaming luminary had been suddenly extinguished 
in mid-heaven. It was as if my paragon of health and 
strength and bloom and gentleness and cordial, hopeful, 
cheerful piety, had been struck out of existence. It had 
never once occurred to me to connect the idea of death 
with the idea of him. He was to me the visible embodi- 
ment of immortal youth. He was in these, as well as many 
other respects, my "bright particular star." He was one 
of those rare and glorious spirits whose mission it seems 



224 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



to be to link into a more intimate relationship the earth 
and heaven. To this feeling there immediately succeeded 
one of overwhelming tenderness and poignant personal 
sorrow. Had I lost a near kinsman, my suffering could 
not well have been more acute or distressing. 

I can find no words that interpret my emotions so fitly as 
those of David's lament over Jonathan and Tennyson's 
sweet outburst over young Hallam. I sometimes wonder 
whether everybody felt in this way towards him. At first 
all was astonishment mixed with tender grief. 

"The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places." 

"Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let 
there be rain upon you, nor fields of offering." 

"Ye daughters of Israel weep for him who clothed you 
in scarlet and other delights, who put ornaments of gold 
upon your apparel." 

"I am distressed for thee, my brother . . . very pleas- 
ant hast thou been unto me." 

"How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war 
perished !" 

Then came a more quiet feeling; but one which will be 
permanent — 

" I leave thy praises unexpressed 
In verse that brings myself relief, 
And by the measure of my grief 
I leave thy greatness to be guessed ; 

" What practice, howsoe'er expert, 
In fitting aptest words to things, 
Or voice, the richest toned that sings, 
Hath power to give thee as thou wert? 

" I care not in these fading days 

To raise a cry that lasts not long, 
And round thee with the breeze of song 
To stir a little dust of praise. 

" Thy leaf has perished in the green, 

And, while we breathe beneath the sun, 
The world which credits what is done 
Is cold to all that might have been. 

" So here shall silence guard thy fame, 
But somewhere, out of human view, 
What e'er thy hands are set to do 
Is wrought with tumult of acclaim." 



William James Hoge. 



225 



I have read, with a sort of pensive delight, Dr. Moore's 
graceful sketch and your own touching account of the 
death. And what a death it was ! How it crowns and 
finishes the life! Do the records of Christian biography 
present us with more beautiful or affecting dying exercises ? 
I think not. We might apply to him the words of Simeon, 
"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," for 
his "eyes have seen thy salvation." 

The first time I ever saw your brother was at my father's 
house in New York. He was then, as at the time of his de- 
cease, in the exuberant prime of early manhood. His pres- 
ence shed a tinge of joy over the whole family. The apart- 
ment seemed full of light and music while he was in it. 
My dear impressible father seemed to be drunk with pleas- 
ure all the time he was under his roof. So was "Sparkle," 
the canary, in his cage on the wall. When he grasped me 
by the hand, I felt new blood and new emotions tingling 
from the heart to the extremities. When he held me fast 
and looked me kindly in the face, his eyes seemed to me to 
resemble the blue sky — the pure, sweet, infinite azure of 
the firmament ; and his voice, in its deep melody and ex- 
quisite modulations, the bold, but harmless rush of a 
southern wind in June. This may seem extravagant, 
but such were my feelings of growing love and admiration. 
To look upon this sweet and noble gentleman, was (I be- 
lieve) to be smitten with his attractions. 

On arriving at Princeton, I found the town all agog 
about him. He had delivered two sermons with great 
effect, one at the Seminary chapel and one at the church. 
His subjects were the "Stoning of Stephen" and the "Cities 
of Refuge." Uncle Addison, especially, was in raptures. I 
have seldom heard him speak in equal terms of enthusiasm 
of anybody. He was particularly struck with the union of 
exegetical argument (as where he proves the Deity of 
Christ from Stephen's act of worship) with the emotional 
and imaginative powers, and indeed, if we take into view 
the charms of his delivery and the rare and visible impress 
of personal holiness, just here it seems to me lay your 
brother's forte. 

I next met him at his own house in Prince Edward, 
where I was most hospitably entertained, and in every way 
furthered in my plans. Haec ohm me minis se juvabit. 



226 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



After listening to Dr. Smith in the morning (this was 
Sunday), we rode together to Farmville, where your 
brother was then preaching, and where he made me assist 
him. He spoke at night, and I in the afternoon. He intro- 
duced me with a kind allusion to my parentage, and to the 
intercourse that had subsisted between Dr. Hoge and Dr. 
Alexander. I was totally overcome with his gentleness, 
frankness and cordiality. All the way from College Hill 
he was pouring out his thoughts and feelings — his fancies 
and affections, with the joy of a lark or a nightingale. 

Sometimes his mellow laugh would shake the dim woods. 
Sometimes his eyes would fill with tears. His sermon was 
a noble one, but his conversation (on such subjects as 
night, death, the temptation, the Garden of Eden and Fair- 
bairn's Typology) impressed me even more than the dis- 
course. When we reached his stables at the Seminary, I 
requested him to exert his lungs to the utmost in calling 
the servant. He laughingly complied, and gave a shout 
that would have waked the caves of Neptune. He seemed 
to me at this time to exult in his youth and temperament 
and constitution. I noticed, too, that in the mad frolic of 
his animal spirits, he turned everything into fun, or else 
into religion. 

Our next meeting was once more in New York. I per- 
haps do not give the events in their order, but that is im- 
material. He was to preach at the Academy of Music, and 
took tea that night at Uncle Henry's. We accompanied 
him to the door. The magnificent audience-room was soon 
packed from floor to ceiling — five thousand persons, in- 
cluding those standing in the aisles. Your brother excelled 
himself, save in one particular — his voice was somewhat 
impaired by a cold. His manner was superb, and the de- 
livery of the closing sentences faultless. I have known few, 
if any, discourses to make such a sensation. The town 
literally ran after him. He had already been approached 
by the Collegiate Church. I took his arm in the vestibule, 
and walked with him to Twenty-seventh street. It was a 
fine night, and he descanted as usual upon the heavens and 
the divine glory. He also spoke with frankness of the in- 
terest his preaching had excited, and expressed his sense 
of his unutterable nothingness in the sight of God. 

I cannot dwell upon the altogether pleasing and profit- 



William James Hoge. 



227 



able intercourse it was my privilege to enjoy with your 
brother, during his connection with the Brick Church. We 
spent a large part of one summer together at Long Branch, 
sojourning in adjoining cottages, my uncle's and Miss 
Macready's. We used to walk together on the seashore in 
the windy afternoons, or sit in the breezy arbors, or throw 
ourselves at length upon the firm sand. On these occasions 
all the boy seemed to revive in him, though he never ceased 
to pour out words which bore the impress of his maturer 
genius. 

" And this our life, exempt from public haunt," 
Found "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 

The synod in Charlottesville is fresh in your recollection. 
This must have been still earlier. Never shall I forget his 
two sermons on the texts, "The Spirit also helpeth our in- 
firmities," etc., and "I am the way." The latter, delivered 
as it was under the most inspiring circumstances, I am dis- 
posed to regard as possibly the greatest effort of his life. 
I think you were present. The house was crowded with the 
elite of Virginia. The hall, with its pictured reminiscences, 
was worthy of such a presence. Your dear and honored 
brother seemed to be aware that much was expected of 
him, and I suppose equalled the largest anticipations. His 
description of Arnold Winkleried, and of the two bridges 
to heaven, surpassed anything of the sort I ever listened 
to. My uncle, Dr. Cabell, compared it to a tragedy of 
Euripides. Professor Bledsoe dashed out of the house 
with tears in his eyes, muttering, "That is the way I like to 
hear a man preach. It is the simple gospel." The sermon 
was thoroughly Augustinian, and yet could give no offence 
even to a semi-Pelagian. 

It would be hard to convey to another the cordiality with 
which Mr. Hoge bade me God speed when I came to settle 
in Virginia, or the joy with which he seemed to meet me on 
his return to the South. I mention this, not as meaning to 
intimate that he held me in higher regard than he did hun- 
dreds of others, but as an illustration of his kindness of 
heart, and the pleasure with which he always reverted to 
old associations. He invited me to spend the night with 
him at General Baldwin's during the meeting of synod at 



228 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Staunton, and, as we both sat out in the moonlight, under 
the trellis work (the family having retired) he filled that 
little paradise with the music of his mournful, yet joyous 
retrospections. The theme (I hardly need tell you) was 
poor Dabney Harrison, and the extraordinary complication 
of private sorrows that succeeded his death. I never heard 
him talk to greater advantage. I was inspired with new 
admiration, as well as by everything he said and did as 
Moderator of the synod. 

Last fall, just before my return from a trip to the moun- 
tains, I went down to preach to the Eighteenth Regiment, 
then camped near Petersburg. I arrived there on Saturday, 
and put up with my friend, Mrs. Dunlop. Sunday morning, 
I listened to your brother. It was the first part of a dis- 
course which he finished at night. The house was thor- 
oughly filled. They rose to a man in singing the last hymn, 
and the pastor led them himself with his magnificent bass. 
He also baptized a child. I sat in his pew, and partook of 
his dinner and his hearty welcome. I was sick, and he 
ministered to my wants as an invalid. He took me with 
him into his gardens, and opened his mind to me about the 
improvements he purposed, etc., etc. He seemed to be in 
high spirits, and in the enjoyment of every comfort. A 
young lady, whom he seemed to prize, had just sent him a 
bunch of flowers or a basket of fruit. The sun poured 
torrents of light upon his clear, creamy walls. Everything 
was as neat and snug as a bandbox. Surely, I thought here 
is happiness on earth. Alas ! this was the last I ever saw 
of one of the noblest and gentlest beings that ever bright- 
ened for me the path to heaven ; but, by the grace of that 
Saviour in whom he trusted, we shall meet him yonder, 
where all that is now dark shall be explained. And if it 
ravished the mind of Cicero to dream of seeing Cato in 
Elysium, ought it not to fill our minds with emulation to be 
assured of a reunion with the blessed and the departed. 
I can never read the passage in the De Senectute without 
tears, and without feeling myself elevated above the earth, 
and its corruptible vanities. 

I wish you to forgive this long epistle on the score of the 
affection I bore your dear translated brother. As I am not 
in possession of her address, would you do me the favor to 
forward this, after you have read it, to "Cousin Virginia." 



William James Hoge. 229 

If I have not alluded to her more pointedly before, it was 
not because I did not cherish a most grateful sense of her 
kindness, and a delightful recollection of the hours passed 
in her society and the society of him who has been taken 
from her. May God, in the unsearchable riches of his 
compassion, goodness and love, apply to her that consola- 
tion of which she stands in need ! May he, who has been 
with her in six troubles, not forsake her in the seventh. 
And may the promise be verified to her and to her children 
after her. "I will never leave thee/' With warmest senti- 
ments of regard. I am, 

Yours very sincerely, H. C. Alexander. 



CHAPTER X. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 



1864 — 1870. 



"He was not all unhappy. His resolve 
Upbore him, and firm faith ; and evermore 
Prayer from a living source within the will, 
And beating up thro' all the bitter world, 
Like fountains of sweet water in the sea, 
Kept him a living soul." — Tennyson. 



LOWLY and surely the forces of destruction were 



closing in upon the Confederacy and its devoted cap- 
ital. Less slowly, but more surely, the resources of the 
Confederacy were approaching the vanishing point. In 
these conditions, Dr. Hoge prepared a resolution for the 
action of Congress, appointing a day of fasting and prayer. 1 

1 The text of the resolution in Dr. Hoge's manuscript is as follows : 
"The Congress of these Confederate States, reverently recognizing 
the providence of God in the affairs of men, and gratefully remembering 
the guidance, support and deliverance granted to our patriot fathers in 
the memorable war which resulted in the independence of the colonies in 
the days of the first revolution ; and now, reposing in Him their supreme 
confidence and hope in the present struggle for civil and religious free- 
dom and for the right to live under a government of our own choice 
and rulers of our own selection; and deeply impressed with the con- 
viction that without Him nothing is strong, nothing wise and nothing en- 
during; in order that the people of this Confederacy may have the 
opportunity at the same time of voluntarily offering their adorations to 
the great Sovereign of the universe, of penitently confessing their sins, 
and strengthening their vows and purposes of amendment, in humble 
reliance on the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ, and the aid of the 
divine Spirit; do resolve, 

"That the day of be set apart and observed as a day of 

solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer, that Almighty God would so 
preside over our public councils and constituted authorities; that he 
would so inspire our armies, and those who have command of them, 
with wisdom, courage and perseverance; and so manifest Himself in 
the greatness of His goodness and the majesty of His power, that we may 
be safely and successfully led through the trials of this just and necessary 
war, to the attainment of an honorable peace; that, while we enjoy the 
blessings of a free and happy government, we may ascribe to Him the 
honor and the glory of our independence and prosperity." 




The Valley of the Shadow. 231 

The day fixed upon was Friday, March 10, 1865, and all over 
the Southern land pastors and people met in churches and in 
camps and cried unto God for deliverance. 

It may seem strange, as we look back, that men of intelli- 
gence and discernment had not, by this time, seen the hand- 
writing on the wall, and should even yet have clung to the 
hope of Southern independence ; but the result by no means 
seemed so inevitable then as now. 

A gentleman of high character and standing in New York 
wrote to Dr. Hoge in the spring of 1863 : 

Politically there is a great reaction now going on in the 
North. The people are tired of the war. Innumerable 
households are clad in mourning. Their dead are fatten- 
ing the soil of the South. Taxes increase. Debt looms up 
gloomily. Business is prostrated. There is no gold or sil- 
ver ; nothing but paper trash. And hence the revolt from 
Republicanism. 

Grant's movement upon Richmond, until he crossed to the 
south bank of the James, seemed but a repetition of an old 
story, checked as he was at every point by Lee's unbroken 
line. Even after Grant's change of base, even during the 
siege of Petersburg, gold — that subtle gauge of public opin- 
ion — reached two hundred and ninety in New York, the 
highest point during the war ; and in the presidential election 
of 1 864, though McClellan was overwhelmingly beaten in the 
Electoral College, in the popular vote nine out of every 
twenty voters registered their opposition to the war, so that 
a change of one vote in ten would have reversed the 
figures. 

But it was not written that the Confederacy should suc- 
ceed ; and when Lee's lines were broken at Petersburg, and 
he had to withdraw the covering protection of his army 
from Richmond, its evacuation and the fall of the Confed- 
eracy were inevitable. 

Of that night of terror and of dread, when Richmond was 
evacuated, let us not speak. 



232 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



The authors of the monumental biography of Mr. Lincoln 
treat it as the pricking of Richmond's "little bubble of pride 
at being the Confederate Capital." Perhaps there was some- 
thing of that, but the final history will not be written in that 
spirit. No one can really understand the spirit that animated 
the best people of the South, and speak of them in that tone 
of thinly-veiled contempt that characterizes the whole of 
that history. Dr. Hoge was one of those people, and no one 
in Richmond felt its downfall more keenly than he. It is 
significant that he was held in highest honor by a man who 
has filled, with distinguished ability, both of the exalted 
stations to which one of those authors has attained. Better 
knowledge will bring fairer judgment. History must 
reckon with such men before it understands the Confederate 
struggle. 

On the withdrawal of Mr. Davis and his Cabinet from 
Richmond, Dr. Hoge accompanied them, by the advice of 
friends, as he was not willing to take the oath of allegiance 
to the United States so long as the Confederate government 
existed. In Danville he shared his room with Mr. Benjamin, 
whom he found walking the streets without a home. He 
afterwards contributed to Mr. Lawley — whom he had known 
well in Richmond as the war correspondent of the London 
Times — some interesting facts with regard to that epoch for 
his biography of Mr. Benjamin. He remained a while in 
Milton, N. C. ; and, as soon as it was possible, he returned 
to Richmond to take up the burden of life, with a sad heart, 
but an unconquered will. 

The conditions were enough to paralyze the stoutest heart. 
Of course, every business interest was prostrate. The wealth 
that was held in the labor of the slaves was gone at a stroke ; 
without the slave-labor, plantations were at first valueless; 
planters who had lived freely themselves and thought no- 
thing of an outstanding debt of fifty thousand dollars, or of 
"endorsing" to that amount for a friend, found themselves 
bankrupt; the merchants and banks who held their paper 



The Valley of the Shadow. 233 

were often forced into bankruptcy; the millions held in 
Confederate bonds and Confederate money had vanished 
into air — or rather into the smoke of battle ; State bonds be- 
came, for a time, almost as worthless ; the railroads had been 
the plaything of contending armies, and found themselves at 
the close of the struggle with road-bed and rolling stock 
worn out and in ruins, while their earnings were depressed 
by the depression of all things else. Thus every form of 
wealth was blighted or blasted. 

In this material demoralization, it was not only individuals 
that suffered. The educational institutions of the South, 
whose investments were in bonds and stocks and other paper 
representatives of value, were without means of support, and 
would have been compelled to suspend but for the extra- 
ordinary sacrifices of their professors and the extraordinary 
exertions of their friends. And amid the general poverty, 
the support of all charitable enterprises and of religion itself 
became exceedingly difficult, and would have been impossible 
had not the hearts of the people been more than usually lifted 
to God, and their sacrifices for his cause proportionally 
greater. 

But to thinking men, these material troubles were the 
least of their calamities. The social system of the South, 
with its admitted drawbacks, had developed a noble type of 
men and women. It is true, it was an aristocracy. The 
"poor whites" of the South had not developed equally with 
the corresponding class in other parts of the country; but 
this aristocracy contained much of what was best in all the 
land. From colonial times it had furnished the leading 
generals and statesmen to the whole country. Virginia was 
recognized as the "mother of States and of statesmen." 
What would be the outcome of the destruction of this aris- 
tocracy, who could tell ! 

But more than all this, they had lost their independence; 
their statehood. They were governed as a conquered pro- 
vince ; the constitution that their fathers had helped to frame 



234 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



was displaced by military authority and martial law. They 
were men without a country. 

But over all came a darker shadow yet: in the enfran- 
chisement — suddenly and without preparation — of the re- 
cently emancipated slaves. So far as this was done sincerely 
for the help and protection of the negroes, it was a blunder ; 
so far as it was done for partisan advantage, it was a crime. 
The one hope for the South was that the good will existing 
between master and slave would lead to a friendly working 
out of the problem of free labor. This measure threw them 
at once into opposite political camps; subjected the colored 
race to the leadership of unprincipled adventurers, and irri- 
tated the baser whites into a thousand acts of lawlessness. 

Had Mr. Lincoln lived — Southern people have more and 
more recognized — these things would probably not have 
been. With his views of the Constitution and the Union, he- 
had felt it his sworn duty to wage war upon them. He had 
waged it relentlessly, as war must be waged if waged at all ; 
but he had shown a scrupulous regard for the Constitution,, 
as he understood it; a calm confidence in doing his duty in 
the face of popular clamor; a greatness of soul that rose 
above mere partisan advantage, and a kindness of heart in- 
capable of ungenerous treatment to a fallen foe. It was the 
tragic mistake of the early secessionists to misconceive the 
character of this man. It was the tragic misfortune of the 
whole South that he was struck down just when he was 
needed to give moderation to the counsels of their conquer- 
ors. But Mr. Lincoln was not, and these things were. 

The sorrow and resolve of this time are reflected in a few 
of Dr. Hoge's letters to his ever-faithful friend. The first 
was sent by the hand of his true friend, Mr. Staff Little, of 
New Jersey, at a time when one could not write as one 
pleased through the mails, and when even his visitors were 
under surveillance. His daughter, who was in poor health, 
had already been sent to "Aunt Mary's" care. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 235 
Richmond, May 15, 1865. 

My Dear Sister : 

" With every morning light, 
My sorrow new begins." 

I forget my humiliation for a while in sleep, but the 
memory of every bereavement comes back heavily, like a 
sullen sea surge, on awaking, flooding and submerging my 
soul with anguish. The idolized expectation of a separate 
nationality, of a social life and literature and civilization of 
our own, together with a gospel guarded against the con- 
tamination of New England infidelity, all this has perished,, 
and I feel like a shipwrecked mariner thrown up like a sea- 
weed on a desert shore. 

I hope my grief is manly. I have no disposition to in- 
dulge in querulous complaints. God's dark providence 
enwraps me like a pall ; I cannot comprehend, but I will 
not charge him foolishly ; I cannot explain, but I will not 
murmur. 

To me it seems that our overthrow is the worst thing 
that could have happened for the South — the worst thing 
that could have happened for the North, and for the cause 
of constitutional freedom and of religion on this continent. 
But the Lord hath prepared his throne in the 'heavens and 
his kingdom ruleth over all. I await the development of 
his providence, and I am thankful that I can implicitly be- 
lieve that the end will show that all has been ordered in 
wisdom and love. Though he slay me, yet will I trust 
him. 

Mr. Little will tell you more than I can write. He will 
explain why I have seen so much less of him than I could 
have wished. 

Bessie's letter tells me how considerate, tender, and lov- 
ing you have been to her. I have long called you sister ; 
you continue to give me reason for the sweet appellation. 

I am trying to reconcile her to probable disappointment 
as to going abroad. My stocks, bonds, etc., are now worth- 
less, and I have no means of sending her to England, and 

even if she went through the kindness of Mr. C , I 

doubt whether she would enjoy her visit to the Old World, 
where a Confederate will be regarded very much in the 
light of a Hungarian or Pole; the object of pity dashed 
with contempt, and not even of sympathy. A successful 



236 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



revolt is crowned with glory ; an insurrectionary failure is 
branded by the world with infamy. 

I am writing very late at night after a weary day, and I 
must still send a few lines to Bess by Mr. Little, with whom 
I have had a long and satisfactory conversation. 

Ever truly yours, M. D. H. 

Again he writes in August : 

I returned last night from Petersburg, whither I went 
to see a bereaved family that had claims on my attention. 
It was a very mournful visit; the very memories of the 
past, some of them absolutely delightful in themselves, 
only saddened me because of the vivid contrast they forced 
on my mind with the things of the present. In passing the 
door of the pretty parsonage, I could almost see Brother 
William emerging, with his beaming face and almost bois- 
terous welcome, when "Brother Moses"made a week event- 
ful, in his regard at least, by a visit. Then there was the 
shell-shattered church. Then there was Mcllwaine's house, 
the very home of hospitality and Irish heartiness, the pro- 
prietor, old, feeble, and in Europe. Then there was Steven- 
son's, where everything that is good in a cross between a 
Scot and a Virginian was to be found ; but he, poor fellow, 
dying of consumption at some summer resort in Pennsyl- 
vania ; and there was old Mrs. Lynch's comfortable man- 
sion, recalling not only our visit there in company, but 
earlier ones of mine with Parsons ; bringing back the recol- 
lection of such dinners and suppers as only those who have 
been college boys can recall ; together with visions of 
blazing coal fires, and luxurious chambers, and pretty ser- 
vant maids, and lunches and cigars between times. But 
now every whit of this has vanished — the old lady, and 
Phil., and the nut-brown Fanny, and the high-swung car- 
riage and the fat horses, and the hot and honeyed and but- 
tered buckwheats ; and only you and I left to sigh over it 
all. But sorry as I am to end my letter with a sigh, this is 
the way nearly everything in life ends, and this must be the 
finis of your affectionate Moses D. Hoge. 

Once more in September : 

I have not been very well since the surrender. 

Other seas will give up their dead, but my hopes went 



The Valley of the Shadow. 237 

down into one from which there is no resurrection. These 
inscrutable providences are like the half lines written in the 
palaces of the Caesars — what is to come after will explain 
and complete their meaning. 

When you get back home, I want you to lay me under an 
additional obligation. Since my return from England, I 
have seen scarcely any new books, and I want something 
fresh and smart ; something that will sometimes transport 
me to an ideal land. I have no objection to your enlivening 
the package with any good divinity or recently invented 
history. All I want is something late and readable, whether 
song or sermon. 

Dr. Hoge had many friends at the North before the war. 
Some of them were of strong Southern sympathies. As they 
had opportunity they had cheered him during the struggle 
itself, and at its close they were prompt in their greetings 
and in offers of assistance of all kinds. Among them should 
be named General Archibald C. Niven and his brother, 
Thornton M. Niven; and the brothers, Charles P. and 
Robert Cochran — members of his brother's church in New 
York. There were many others, who differed widely from 
him on political questions, whose personal friendship was 
unchanged. A visit to the North the winter after the war 
and the meeting with many of these friends brings a gleam 
of sunshine into the darkness of the time. On his return 
home he wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf (January, 1866) : 

I could have remained a day longer in New Brunswick, 
but I considered the matter, and think I decided right. In 
view of its being the visit of a rebel ; of the particular sea- 
son of the year ; and of your father's occupation at such a 
busy time, I concluded that it was best for me to leave 
when I did. Then I could not have had another evening 
more pleasant, something might have occurred to make it 
less so. Your father was so genial, Mrs. Terhune so kind, 
and my seat on the little lounge so near the fire — chilly 
body that I am — that it could hardly be expected that the 
course of another evening would run as smooth. I always 
like the dessert to come at the end of the feast. I enjoyed 
mine to the full, and so came away content. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



This entire visit to the North has been a memorable one. 
My friends seemed to be anxious to make it in every way 
pleasant to me, and at no former time did I receive more 
marked and kind attention. 

In February he wrote again, and the shadow has returned, 
though he writes with more of hope : 

Since I came home, I have been working hard; very 
hard, that is, for lazy me. I am stimulated to make more 
careful preparation than usual for my Sunday services be- 
cause of the crowds which throng my church. In the after- 
noons, especially, the people come long before the hour, 
and many have to go away because they cannot find stand- 
ing or sitting-room. I hope some day to see you among my 
auditors, but I fear the times are too sorrowful, as yet, to 
permit you to enjoy a visit to Virginia. Our people are be- 
coming increasingly depressed. There is scarcely any busi- 
ness done, and the scarcity of money and the gloomy pros- 
pects of the future causes care, like a vast shadow, to rest 
over everything. The most animated and cheerful day we 
have is Sunday, when people seem to forget their troubles 
for a while, and crowd the churches, seeking for solace 
there. 

I have much to be thankful for and to make me happy 
at home, in the midst of all the abounding and surrounding 
privations and sorrow. 

Susan and Mrs. Brown, Bess, Mary and Lacy, 1 five of 
the best of their sex, all contribute in their several ways to 
my comfort. Then Addison is a noble boy, and little Moses 
is a fountain of joy to me. And as to temporal matters, 
though I lost some thirty or forty thousand dollars by the 
termination of the war, I have been abundantly provided 
for, and had we gained our cause, would not have thought 
twice about that trifle. This, however, is an Irish way of 
stating it, for had we gained our cause, I would not have 
lost my property. 

Let all this pass. We have a future to face ; and, though 
there is nothing bright in the political sky, yet there may 

1 On the death of his brother he had taken to his own home his 
brother's two older children, Lacy and Addison. The younger children 
remained with their mother. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 239 

be a reaction which may yet restore to us a constitutional 
government. 

I wish the millennium and the personal reign of Christ 
on earth were as certain as Dr. Cumming would have us 
believe. Though I do not believe with the personal advent 
people, I constantly find myself wishing their doctrine 
might be true; as the quickest and most certain way of 
putting an end to the misrule and unrest with which the 
world is filled. 

When reconstruction was having its perfect work, at the 
time of the Underwood Convention, he wrote : 

Richmond, January 8, 1868. 

My Dear Sister : The date at the top of this letter 1 
reminds me of a man who, with all his faults, was one of 
the most unselfish patriots this country every produced; 
brave as Julius Caesar, and inflexible in his adherence to 
what he thought right as Aristides. When a boy, I spent 
a day at the Hermitage, and I cherish the remembrance of 
his kindness to me during the visit. He said he would be 
gone first, but that I would live to see this land rent with 
civil war. It may have been old age, it may have been 
second sight, but his predictions as to the future of the 
country were all gloomy. The only alleviation I have, in 
contemplating the ruin of the South, is that I was prepared 
for it, in case we did not maintain our cause in the field. 
Some of my friends thought my apprehensions were ex- 
treme during the war, when I insisted that if we did not 
succeed in the conflict, our humiliation and oppression after 
defeat would be well-nigh intolerable. 

For one, at least, I am not surprised at what has come to 
pass. Nothing would induce me to enter our Capitol. 
Others have gone in from curiosity, but I wish to escape 
the spectacle of beastly baboons sitting where sages and 
patriots once sat. The negroes now engaged in the work 
of making organic laws for the people of Virginia are not 
only most of them depraved men, but, in a number of in- 
stances, men convicted of scandalous crimes. The mulatto 
who represents Richmond was formerly newspaper car- 

1 The anniversary of the battle of New Orleans, long celebrated by 
the admirers of "Old Hickory" as "St. Jackson's Day." 



240 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



rier for the Dispatch, but, being detected in defrauding his 
employers, was tried, convicted by the court, and publicly 
whipped. Of course, this state of things is too absurd to 
continue forever; but when the great reaction comes, the 
work will have been done ; everything distinctive and dear 
in our Southern life will have vanished, and whatever 
material prosperity may visit Virginia, it must come 
through immigrants, aliens and strangers. 

Do not imagine, however, that I allow these great calam- 
ities to make me moody or indifferent to the blessings yet 
remaining. I still have literature to beguile me, if not 
politics; I have innumerable family mercies; and I have 
more to interest me in my church than ever before. Last 
Sunday we took up our collection for "Sustentation," and 
the contribution was the largest ever taken up in my 
church, considering the poverty of the people. Last Sun- 
day we had the largest Sunday-school that ever met since 
its organization, and a new spirit and life seems to pervade 
every interest connected with it. The old crowds continue. 
We fill the aisles with settees, but cannot, by any such helps, 
accommodate the people. 

Overwhelmed with the calamities that had befallen them 
and dreading the impending evils of the unknown future, 
there were not a few in the South who favored a migration 
of the whole population to some virgin land, where they 
might build up their civilization in freedom. Against this 
movement General Lee set his face unflinchingly; and so 
did Dr. Hoge, though constantly in receipt of letters impor- 
tuning him to throw himself into such a movement. His 
letters show that a noble purpose sustained him : to conserve 
what was left from the wreck of the past ; to train up a new 
generation, fitted to meet the new conditions, with a fidelity 
and a statesmanship equal to that of their fathers ; to infuse 
the Spirit of Christ into the hearts of his countrymen, that 
they might learn of Him how to bear the cross and how to 
win the crown reserved for the faithful; and to comfort, 
with the hopes of the life to come, those who in this life had 
suffered the loss of all things. In short, to set his face to 
the future, and "let the dead past bury its dead." 



The Valley of the Shadow. 241 

One of the first needs of the hour was education. Students 
had flocked, from college and university, into the army, and 
for four years scarcely a youth in the whole land had entered 
a college. Men who had been wealthy were now, in most 
cases, unable to educate their sons, while the colleges them- 
selves were in financial straits. The problem was a serious 
one. Dr. Hoge's first care was, of course, for his own be- 
loved college, but his interest was not confined to it. Ven- 
erable professors sought his aid in getting public support 
restored to the State University. On the death of General 
Lee, the friends of Washington College sought his coopera- 
tion in placing the Lee monument at the scene of his last 
labors, that his unfinished work might yet have the mighty 
influence of his name. During the life of General Lee, their 
correspondence shows a cordial cooperation in the common 
cause. And they builded wiser than they knew. A man 
whose fame had filled the world, who had commanded one of 
the greatest armies of history, sits down and writes to Dr. 
Hoge about the summer employment of indigent students. 
Was it an insignificant work ? Every student named in those 
letters has done useful work in church and state, and one, of 
whom special mention was made, after filling an honorable 
place in the councils of the nation, has represented it at one 
of the greatest capitals of the old world. This was their 
work — to prepare a new generation for the duties that were 
to come. 

Dr. Hoge also felt keenly the need of a literature for the 
South. There were journals devoted to the memories of the 
past, but his object was different. The Southern people 
needed to come into contact with the literature and culture of 
the world; but the Northern journals were too full of their 
recent triumph to be agreeable reading in the South. So he 
looked abroad, and from the cream of the British journals 
filled the pages of the Richmond Eclectic, which he founded 
and conducted for one year. It was then transferred to 
Baltimore as the Southern Eclectic, under the editorship of 



242 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Mr. J. Lawrence Turnbull, and, dropping the eclectic fea- 
ture, finally became the Southern Magazine, conducted by 
Dr. William Hande Brown. 

But his great work was in his church. This was his solace 
and his joy. Its work absorbed his energies, its prosperity 
cheered his heart and stimulated him to his highest endeavor. 
The political sky might be lowering, the material horizon 
full of portent, but here was peace. In the pulpit he was free ; 
free, not to wail over the disappointed hopes of his people, or 
to assail their victorious foes, but to preach the everlasting 
gospel of the blessed God, and to declare the righteousness 
of that kingdom which is not of this world. To this prin- 
ciple he kept his church true. The best proof of it is that 
both General Patrick and (after him) General Schofield, the 
Federal commanders in charge of "District One," were both 
pew-holders in his church ; and that Chief Justice Chase was 
a regular worshipper there, and the last sermon he ever 
heard was within its walls. 

A letter from General Patrick is full of Christian fellow- 
ship. He had resigned from the army and was devoting 
himself to religious work, meeting "three or four times a 
week a band of young disciples, of both sexes, numbering 
seventy or eighty, to counsel and instruct them." 

He wrote from Geneva, N. Y., February 15, 1866: 

I often feel, and especially since the receipt of your letter, 
that I would dearly love to spend some weeks in your 
church, in somewhat such manner as I am spending my 
time here — with little other business than what I find in the 
vineyard of the Master. I trust that the religious interest 
in your church continues and increases. May the Spirit 
of the Lord be and abide with you ! 

General Schofield wrote (May 23, 1898) : 

My Dear Sir: I beg you to accept my sincere thanks 
for your kindness in sending me a copy of your Memorial 
Volume, and to be assured of my high appreciation of your 
reference to our pleasant relations while I was in Rich- 



The Valley of the Shadow. 243 



mond. You have done a great, good work in your long 
pastorate, and have been exceptionally fortunate, in that 
your people have known how to appreciate your ability and 
devotion. With great respect, 

Sincerely yours, J. M. Schofield. 

It was the noble privilege of both these men to do much 
to remove the bitterness of feeling on both sides; in the 
South, by representing in their own persons the highest 
type of Northern citizenship, and by discharging their un- 
pleasant duties with a delicacy and kindness that won the 
respect and affection of those over whom they were placed; 
at the North, by testifying what they had seen as to the 
character of the Southern people. 

General Patrick speaks of his efforts in this latter direc- 
tion : 

Circumstances have made it necessary for me to express 
myself decidedly. At first, and in our religious assemblies, 
there would be some rejoinder, showing the animus. For 
weeks, however, all this has ceased, and in the gatherings, 
daily, of the active members of all the evangelical churches, 
I have heard none of the stereotyped, uncharitable allusions 
to the South, which were, but a short time ago, a great 
staple. On the Sabbath evening preceding the Week of 
Prayer, I took occasion to say that if we expected God's 
blessing while our hearts were full of hatred and all un- 
charitableness, we might more than doubt the fact of our 
discipleship. You can imagine what I would say under 
such circumstances, as a Christian man. To which I added 
that my right to speak as I did, none could question, for it 
had been earned by years of toil and danger in the service 
of the whole country. It had more effect than I then knew, 
because they had begun to think they might not be alto- 
gether without sin themselves. 

Noble work for a Christian soldier ! Surely winning for 
him the blessing the Prince of Peace has pronounced upon 
the peacemaker. In this connection — though far from its 
proper date — we must insert a passage from a letter of Dr. 
Hoge's to another dear friend at the North— Dr. Henry M. 
Field : 



244 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Providence seems to have given you a special mission at 
this time in promoting friendly relations between the 
North and South. Regarding, as I do., the man who fans 
the fires of sectional strife as the enemy of country, church, 
and humanity itself, I look upon the work of the reconciler 
as the noblest in which a Christian patriot can engage. 1 

The friendships that Dr. Hoge formed during this time 
did much to lift his mind above the public calamities that 
weighed upon him and the private griefs that were to follow. 
His friend, Mr. Little, introduced him to Governor Ran- 
dolph, of New Jersey. An instant attachment sprang up 
between them. When Mr. Randolph entered the Senate, it 
was his frequent custom to run down to Richmond to spend 
Sunday at Dr. Hoge's, and Dr. Hoge was a frequent guest 
at the Randolphs' beautiful home in Morristown, and was 
chosen to dedicate the new Presbyterian Church, of which 
Mr. Randolph was a leading member. Among the guests 
whom he met at Senator Randolph's was General George B. 
McClellan. The meeting, under these circumstances, was 
pleasanter than it would have been in the stormy summer of 
1862. Here, too, he frequently met General Fitz John Por- 
ter, to whom he was greatly drawn, and in whose vindica- 
tion, by Mr. Randolph's devoted efforts, he sincerely re- 
joiced. Dr. Hoge once wrote Mr. Randolph a letter on his 
birthday — the letter of a friend, the outpouring of his affec- 
tion. Mr. Randolph showed it to Mr. Bayard, who re- 
marked, "I wish I had a friend to write me a letter like that." 
On the first opportunity, Mr. Randolph introduced them, 
leading to a most cordial friendship between them also. 

But most of these incidents were in happier days — long 
after the time of which we write; and we must turn back 
again, to speak of another friend — this time in his own city 
and in his own church. 

One of the foremost men in Richmond, a leader at the bar 
and in public life, was Robert Ould; a man of splendid 

1 Compare also remarks in his address on ''The Private Soldier," 
Appendix, page 458. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 



245 



intellectual endowments and of noble personal qualities, but 
from his youth addicted to intemperance and irreligion. 
Suddenly, to the surprise of every one, he began to attend 
upon Dr. Hoge's ministry. The power of the gospel took 
hold upon his heart; his intellect grasped the magnificent 
scheme of revelation; his life was transformed by divine 
grace, and he consecrated his noble gifts to the service of 
Christ. Every Sunday he lectured to a Bible-class of men, 
giving to this work the same careful preparation as to a 
brief for the Court of Appeals. He became a ruling elder in 
the church, and one of the most loyal and valued friends Dr. 
Hoge ever had. 

We may get a glimpse, from the following letter, of what 
one strong soul, filled with the messages of God, may be to 
another soul of kindred endowments, struggling into the 
light and liberty of God's children. In a letter from Judge 
Ould to his pastor (August, 1870) he says: 

I have laid aside my political pen. I feel, with you, that 
there are "themes higher and more important." Oh ! my 
dear friend, as you love me and my soul, if you see me 
following that or any other vain thing, do again what you 
have so gently done here, recall me to the fields where I 
can be a fellow-laborer with my Master, at his side and 
under his loving eye. Lamenting, as I do, that the best of 
my years were degraded by rebellion against his rule, if 
I know myself, my earnest desire is to consecrate those 
which are left to his service and honor. And, though it is 
my duty to seek out avenues of usefulness — nay, to make 
them where they are not found — yet I sincerely trust that 
if, in the field under your eye, you see any duty, however 
humble or laborious it may be, which you believe I am the 
proper person to discharge, you will put upon me the priv- 
ilege of doing it. You told me once, in the early history 
of my Christian experience, that I might or could be of 
good service in this part of the Lord's vineyard committed 
to you. I have no higher hope than that. The memory of 
your last Sabbath in Richmond still lingers. Our heavenly 
Father was very near to me that day, and, blessed be his 
holy name, has been since. 



246 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



It need hardly be said that Dr. Hoge's labors were not con- 
fined to his own congregation. After the adoption of the 
"Spring Resolutions," in the Assembly of 1861, the South- 
ern Presbyteries came together in an Assembly of their own r 
First, because the terms of the resolutions virtually excluded 
them from membership in the Church whose Assembly had 
passed them ; second, because the political character of the 
resolutions were inconsistent with the spiritual character of 
the Church, as held by the strong minority who voted 
against them; and, third, because, even if a separate na- 
tionality did not require a separate ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion, the exigencies of a great war made any other 
course impracticable. With the termination of the war, the 
latter reason no longer existed, but, in the judgment of 
Southern men, the two former were not only operative, but 
imperative grounds for a separate organization. 

Except on the border, the Southern Church retained all the 
property in church buildings, colleges and seminaries pre- 
viously held by its churches, presbyteries and synods, but all 
its missionary agencies had to be built up from the ground. 
Dr. Hoge had none of Dr. Thornwell's genius for organi- 
zation, and rarely accepted an election to the General As- 
sembly ; but in such matters as the preparation of the Hymn- 
book and the revision of the Directory of Worship — not 
finally adopted until long after this time — his rare taste and 
sound practical judgment were invaluable. His correspond- 
ence on all matters pertaining to the welfare of the church 
was great, and in his daily counsels with Dr. Brown, many 
luminous suggestions found their way through him into the 
columns of the Central Presbyterian, and into the councils 
of the church. Dr. Brown was clerk of the Assembly, and 
both in that body and in presbytery and synod, one of the 
most sagacious counsellors the church ever had. 

The Assembly's Committee of Publication was placed at 
Richmond from the beginning of its work during the war, 
and from the beginning Dr. Hoge was its chairman — con- 



The Valley of the Shadow. 247 

stant in his attendance, indefatigable in his labors in its 
behalf. His manner in presiding over such a body was ideal : 
hearing all that was said on any subject with patient defer- 
ence, and suggesting at the close some plan that would, if 
possible, harmonize all views and best secure the desired re- 
sults. In a dark hour that overtook the publication work, he 
undertook the most painful work of his life, and raised the 
funds necessary to save it from disaster and disgrace. 

In 1866 he was appointed, with Drs. Palmer and Girar- 
deau, to visit the churches of Scotland, and other Presby- 
terian bodies abroad, for the cultivation of friendly relations 
and to solicit aid in supplying the vast destitutions of the 
South. Through friends in England he sounded the leading 
men of some of those bodies, and finding them averse to 
receiving the delegation, the members decided not to go, 
thereby saving the Church from a rebuff. 

The Assembly was then painfully struggling with the 
problem of colored evangelization, and certain resolutions 
of that year had given offence abroad. The resolutions were 
prepared by one who had devoted himself peculiarly to 
preaching to the colored people, and were meant for their 
good ; but it was recognized by the next Assembly that they 
departed from Presbyterian principles and they were re- 
scinded. 

In all his work for the rebuilding of the South, there was 
no class that excited Dr. Hoge's interest and sympathy more 
than the colored people themselves. His relations to them 
had always been peculiarly friendly; he had always had 
them in his church in goodly numbers ; in his family he had 
treated them with kindness and even affection. He saw them 
now scattered as sheep having no shepherd, and grievous 
wolves entering in to devour the flock. As far as they would 
receive it, he gave them counsel. He freely gave them pecu- 
niary aid, which they as freely received. There was not a 
church built by them in Richmond to which he was not a 
subscriber, and the Colored Presbyterian Church recog- 



248 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



nized that without his cooperation it could never have suc- 
ceeded. 

Any man can be happy who is useful, and Dr. Hoge found 
himself more useful to his people and State and church than 
ever before. But now a blow threatened to strike him in a 
vital point. Whatever else he was, whatever else he did, his 
great power for usefulnesss lay in his preaching. His gift of 
speech was to him what the Nazarite's hair was to Samson. 
Shorn of that, he would become weak as other men. And 
that was threatened. An attack of facial paralysis made 
speech impossible for a time, and threatened to lay him aside 
altogether. Happily it proved to be from a local cause, and 
in a few months he was entirely restored. But the anxiety 
of that time the following beautiful letter from Dr. Palmer 
enables us to see and feel : 

New Orleans, September 18, 1868. 
My Dear Brother : I have only this evening returned 
from a missionary jaunt and a week's solid preaching at 
one of the points in our Master's field; but jaded as I am, 
I cannot go to bed without writing to tell you how sad my 
heart is at the news of the affliction which has fallen upon 
you ; and not less upon the Church, in the interdict threat- 
ened to be placed upon your labors. I had not heard a 
whisper of this great calamity, until my friend, Dr. Rich- 
ardson, of this city, was kind enough to place in my hands 
your letter, addressed professionally to himself. It is but 
an hour since I read it ; and you must not accuse him of a 
breach of confidence in showing it to me, for it was in the 
fullness of his own sympathy, and with assurance that I 
would share the sorrow with him to the utmost. Indeed I 
do, not only for the love I have personally to yourself, but 
for the deeper love I have for the kingdom of our common 
Master. 

I know you will bow beneath this stroke w T ith a patient 
and cheerful submission ; yet, putting my soul in your 
soul's stead, I think I can feel the full force of the trial. 

There can be no dispensation of providence more severe 
than to be put aside from the Lord's work, to those who 
love to preach the blessed gospel ; and it will cost you a 



The Valley of the Shadow. 



249 



struggle to be wholly reconciled to it. The concurrent 
opinion of all your physicians gives ground for hope that 
it will not come to that ; and many prayers will go up from 
many hearts, all over this land, that you may be restored to 
the pulpit, and to that career of usefulness and honor which 
you have so long pursued; but, my dear brother, if your 
worst apprehensions should be realized, you have cause for 
profoundest gratitude to God, in that you have been per- 
mitted for five and twenty years to proclaim the riches of 
divine mercy to lost men. Already, many seals have been 
.given you of your acceptance in this blessed work, and a 
rich reward of grace is already secured to you in our Fa- 
ther's kingdom. God grant this to be only a temporary 
suspension of your labors ; and that, in the prime of life 
and in the richness of your powers, you may come back to 
the pulpit with a new unction, and with a new appreciation 
■of the privilege of being an ambassador for Christ. Even 
as the case now stands, it is an effective lesson to us all, 
liow easily the Master can dispense with the service of the 
'best of us. We are so prone to think this and that man to 
rje necessary to the church ; the Lord quietly sets them aside 
and teaches us that the kingdom, and the glory of it, belong 
to him. 

You have another sore affliction in the peril which 
threatens your beloved wife ; but she, too, is in the Sav- 
iour's hands, where she is content to lie, and where you are 
willing to leave her. In all these sorrows, be assured of 
the sympathy and love of all your brethren, who would 
shield you, if they could, and if they did not remember 
that you are in the keeping of One who loves you infinitely 
better than they. God bless you, dear Hoge, and sustain 
and comfort you, and make you and us sweetly submissive 
to all his holy will. I write in haste, only to breathe out the 
sorrow of my own heart, in sharing your affliction. 

Ever yours in Christ Jesus, B. M. Palmer. 



The closing paragraph of Dr. Palmer's letter foreshadows 
another sorrow, which, unlike the last, was not to pass. 

No man was happier in his married life than Dr. Hoge; 
no woman more truly supplemented her husband than did his 
wife. Her naturally bright mind had been carefully culti- 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



vated. Her practical qualities supplied his most conspicu- 
ous lack. Her solicitous care in his frequent ill health, again 
and again prevented his breaking under the strain. Her 
sunny disposition cheered him in the despondency to which 
in earlier years he was prone, and filled his home with 
brightness and good cheer. Her patience under physical 
pain and frequent bereavement helped him to "suffer and be 
strong." Her goodness and unselfishness won to herself and 
to him the hearts of the sad and the needy and the suffering, 
and her ready tact smoothed over the many rough places 
that lie in a minister's path. Above all, "the heart of her 
husband" did "safely trust in her," resting in her love with 
an absolute repose and a perfect satisfaction. 

During the twenty- four years of their married life she had 
lost father, mother, brother, five grown sisters, and four 
children; the last, little Genevieve, 1 dying at Mr. James 
Seddon's, just when their hearts were already crushed with 
the downfall of the Confederacy. But through all these sor- 
rows her spirit bore up bravely. For her children and their 
young friends, with whom the house was always filled, she 
always had a bright face and cheerful words. She made 
their evenings happy with music and song and all innocent 
pleasures, and, even when her own heart was heavy, sought 
to make their lives glad. During Dr. Hoge's absence in 
England, her heart burdened with the anxiety of the separa- 
tion and crushed by the bitter sorrow of their bereavement, 
she found time and heart to think also of the general distress, 
and divided her time between home and hospitals. Neither 
her husband nor her children could recall one unkind or im- 
patient word ever falling from her lips. Her character was 
a rare combination of gentleness and strength, sustained by 
divine grace and by daily communion with God. Whatever 
else pressed upon her, nothing was permitted to interfere 
with her morning hour of devotion, so that she always met 



1 Born October 10, 1864 ; died June 7, 1865. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 251 

the day's duties and trials with a spirit refreshed as by the 
dew of heaven. 

In the spring of 1868, a fatal disease fastened itself upon 
her — one of the most painful to which our poor humanity is 
subject. She bore it with the same patience and fortitude 
with which she had met other trials. In September she wrote 
Mrs. Greenleaf from Brooklyn : 

I should like to see your dear face once more, as it is the 
last visit I shall make North. My health has been failing 
since last spring, and my husband and friends urged me to 
spend the hot season on the borders of Canada, hoping it 
would benefit me; but it has failed, like other means. Al- 
though I look well, I am a constant sufferer. My husband's 
health, also, has been very bad for two months, but the last 
letter from him at the Hot Springs was more cheerful and 
encouraging. Good little Mary has had the care of 
Moses and my dear little sick baby 1 all the summer 
in the mountains, but she writes that he is nearly well 
now. Bessie came along to take care of me, the biggest 
baby of all. 

In October, Miss Bessie Hoge wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

You scarcely ever saw a greater sufferer in your life, 
and certainly no human spirit so purified, gentle and 
loving. During this distressing decline of three months, 
no impatient word, no murmuring expression, has ever 
escaped those poor fever-parched lips. Oh ! the sustaining 
grace that is granted her! She is so calm that nothing 
seems to rufrle the repose of her soul. The only shadows 
that cross it are the thoughts of leaving Father and her 
children, especially the bright, dear little boys. Her pros- 
tration has been extreme during the past few days; at 
times she was not even strong enough to be propped up in 
bed with pillows. Father is still an invalid from his paraly- 
sis, his eyes being distressingly affected by it. Then, too, 
he is very nervous, partly from the disease, but more from 
anxiety and loss of rest. 



1 Hampden, born January 6, 1867. 



252 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



And again November 9th : 

Mother has been very ill indeed, and required the most 
constant attention night and day during the past week, but 
for the past twenty-four hours she has been more com- 
fortable. This weather is the perfection of temperature 
and most fortunate for her ; the windows are all open, and 
the flowers are so luxuriant and beautiful, the quantities of 
roses would surprise you ; each day brings a fresh bouquet. 

Mrs. Brown is perfectly invaluable as a nurse, so quiet, 
so skilful, so ready; she is a real household blessing. 
Father has not been quite so well lately, but he keeps up 
wonderfully considering his wearing anxiety, church work, 
and nursing mother the greater part of each night, refusing 
even our assistance until three or four o'clock ; and he will 
persist in doing this as long as he has strength. His eyes 
are so much affected that at times he is totally unable either 
to read or write ; but he, too, is learning submission. 

We all feel it to be such a privilege to be with mother, 
to see how our heavenly Father enables his children, even 
in passing through fiery trials, to glorify Him. 

On the 13th, Dr. Hoge wrote himself : 

The two letters you have recently written did not de- 
mand, but deserved immediate answers. I must try to 
reply to both, as my dear wife will probably never take a 
pen in hand again. Before I had a good opportunity of 
thanking you for your kind remembrance of me, your 
tender letter to her arrived. This was only another of the 
great number of most affectionate and comforting ones she 
has been receiving of late from friends who have heard of 
her rapid decline. 

A few evenings since, one came from Dr. Palmer, of 
New Orleans, commencing with the most delicate apology 
for his seeming intrusion, and then unfolding, in his apt 
and impressive way, the consolations of the gospel for the 
suffering child of God. 

Susan was much affected by this token of sympathy 
from so distant a quarter, coming, too, from one with 
whom she had never met but once. 

I have never seen a community so moved as this is by the 
sickness of one not occupying some high official position. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 



253 



I can hardly walk the streets for the number of persons 
who stop me to inquire after her, and our physician says 
that he, too, is constantly arrested in the same way. It is 
an illustration of what a power simple goodness is, and 
what influence can be gained by one who never thought of 
popularity, and who lived an unobtrusive, unselfish life, 
caring little for self, but full of sympathy for others. 

Bessie told me of a little incident the other day that was 
so characteristic of her that I will give it to you. The 
negro barber, who formerly was employed by us, and who 
always came to the house to cut the children's hair, has 
been sick with consumption for a year or two, and almost 
forgotten by his own race. Susan had a nice partridge 
cooked for him and some light rolls, with fresh butter, and 
some fruit and flowers, all nicely arranged in a basket, and 
sent it to him, with a note which she dictated to Bessie, ex- 
pressing her sympathy for him in his sickness, and her best 
wishes for his spiritual welfare. The servant who carried 
the basket said the poor fellow was quite overcome by the 
kindness, and wept freely when he saw what Mrs. Hoge 
had written to him. But why should I tell you of such 
things — you who had the opportunity of seeing for your- 
self her manner of life, during successive months of per- 
sonal association with her ? 

As her malady is one of the most painful of all to which 
the human frame is liable, I dreaded lest it might make her 
feel that it was a harsh and unkind providence ; but, on the 
contrary, all her talk when we are alone is about God's 
wonderful goodness and mercy to her. She is amazed at 
his making her the object of his loving-kindness. This is 
my greatest support — her patient endurance of suffering 
the most acute, and her entire acquiescence in the will of 
God. 

I am sure this is the most useful period of her life. All 
who visit her room go away with new impressions of the 
power of divine grace to sustain and comfort in every 
distress. When she thanked Dr. Minnigerode (of the 
Episcopal Church) for a very pleasant visit he made her 
yesterday, he said, "Oh ! no ; you are under no obligations 
to me, but I am truly grateful to you for permitting me to 
come ; for I go away with my own faith confirmed and my 
own hope animated by seeing what God is doing for you." 
You see I go on telling you these things, with much detail, 



254 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



because I know I am not writing to a stranger, or to one 
indifferent to such exhibitions of gracious affections, in 
whom God exemplifies the riches of his goodness and love. 
As to my own ailments, I have almost recovered from the 
most unexpected and distressing attack of facial paralysis 
I had last June. At first I feared it might be cerebral, but 
it proved to be entirely local and functional, and I suppose, 
at the present rate of improvement, by another month there 
will not be a trace of it left. I trust, however, that some 
of the effects of it will be permanent. If I am not deceived, 
no affliction was ever so blessed to me, and, accepting it as 
the chastening of the Lord, it is my supreme desire so to 
live that every year, and month, and day of my life may 
be spent profitably to myself and usefully to others. 

Early Monday morn, the 23d, the long weariness and 
pain was over, and she entered into rest. Dr. Moore closed 
his brief address at her funeral — brief because of her request 
- — with these words : 

And when the last stern struggle came, and she knew 
that she was entering the dark valley, she declared that the 
twenty-third Psalm was a complete and exact expression 
of her experience — that the Good Shepherd, who had led 
her all her life long in the green pastures and by the still 
waters, was with her in the valley of the shadow of death, 
supporting her spirit by "the strong rod and the beautiful 
staff," and would surely lead her through the gates of the 
city to her home in her Father's house above. And as the 
earthly Sabbath, which she loved so well, was silently 
passing toward the dawn of a new day, there dawned on 
her waiting vision that day that has no night. 

Dr. Hoge wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf (February 23, 1869) : 

Among the many letters which came to me from every 
part of the country, expressing sympathy for me in my 
great bereavement, there were few so prized as yours ; 
for you who knew us both so well could appreciate all that 
was involved in it better than others. Letters of con- 
dolence written out of the hearts of Christian friends are 
often of real service in suggesting consolations which 
grief had overlooked in its blinding tears, and by prompt- 



The Valley of the Shadow. 255 

ing to the discharge of duties which a heavy heart had 
forgotten. 

It is three months this morning since my dear Susan 
died. It seems more like three years. Once time seemed 
to fly, now it creeps or drags heavily along. Surrounded 
as I am by my affectionate children and many kind friends, 
there are times when I, feel as solitary as if I were the only 
person on the earth. 

I do not wish you to infer that I am indulging in any 
sentimental sorrow, or brooding over my grief, or neglect- 
ing any social or public duty because of what has happened. 

I am not. Notwithstanding the effort it cost me, I 
preached the Sunday after Susan was buried, for reasons 
which I thought almost imperative, and the example thus 
set has already borne its fruits among the afflicted. Nor is 
ours a gloomy household. Though there is probably no 
day in which Bess and Mary do not go to some secret place 
to weep, they are outwardly cheerful and are attending to 
the new duties imposed on them with great propriety. 
Bess is teaching Moses, and Mary has entire charge of 
Hampden, who is now two years old. 

But such losses as yours and mine seldom occur even in 
the richest lives. 

To his cousin, Mrs. Burton, 1 he wrote : 

Ours is an afflicted household, but not a gloomy one. 
We meet every night in the chamber where Susan died, 
and commune together about her, but while we cherish her 
memory deep in our hearts, we try and exhibit to the world 
something of the same cheerful submission which she mani- 
fested so sweetly during all her illness to the very last hour. 

To another friend he wrote : 

Now that all is over, now that I have no wife and no 
country, I have an indescribable feeling of having over- 
lived my time, and a good part of the day I have been in 
a sort of trance, hardly knowing whether what was passing 
was real or a dream. 

I wonder how long this vague, restless, bewildering 
mental and spiritual state will continue. 

I have not really lived since Susan died. 

1 Daughter of Dr. Thomas Hoge. 



256 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



iVmong the many letters of sympathy that poured in upon 
him, we must give one, as showing in its tenderest light the 
Christian character of one of the greatest of men. Writing 
on a matter of public interest to the cause of the kingdom 
of God, he concludes : 

And now, dear Doctor, though perhaps inappropriate to 
the subject, you must allow me to refer to a subject which 
has caused me great distress, and concerning which I have 
desired to write ever since its occurrence; but to tell the 
truth, I have not had the heart to do it. I knew how power- 
less I was to afford any comfort, to give any relief, and how 
utterly inadequate was any language that I could use even 
to mitigate your sufferings. I could, therefore, only offer 
up my silent prayers to him who alone can heal your bleed- 
ing heart, that, in his infinite mercy, he would be ever 
present with you ; to dry your tears and staunch your 
wounds ; to sustain you by his grace, and to support you 
by his strength. I hope you felt assured that in this heavy 
calamity you and your children had the heart-felt sympathy 
of myself and Mrs. Lee, and that you were daily remem- 
bered in our poor prayers. 

With our best wishes and sincere affection, I am 

Very truly yours, R. E. Lee. 

Dr. Hoge always remembered, with peculiar gratitude, 
Dr. Palmer's kindness at this time, and years afterwards, 
when he was similarly bereaved, wrote to him as follows : 

Richmond, November 27, 1888. 

My Dear Dr. Palmer : Of late years, when I hear that 
any one of my friends has suffered a great bereavement, I 
hesitate to send immediately the assurance of my sympathy, 
well knowing that such will appreciate the sympathy of 
silence until the sorrowing heart has had time for self- 
communion and for communion with the great Healer 
and Comforter. 

There is a sacredness in some griefs into which the ten- 
derest affection must not too soon intrude, even when it 
yearns to give some expression of it. 

I trust I may now be permitted to say what my heart 
prompted me to say the moment I heard of your great loss. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 257 



It is a loss, whatever heaven may have gained, and what- 
ever you may have gained through the discipline of sanc- 
tified sorrow. 

Even the grace of God does not make us insensible of the 
deep sense of loneliness and privation when one who has 
been intertwined with us, life for life, and with whom every 
thought, feeling and plan has been associated through all 
the vicissitudes of long years, has been taken away. 

I suppose our heavenly Father means that by every ex- 
perience of trial we may better understand the actual char- 
acter of each form of suffering which others endure, and 
that thus we may become qualified to comfort others by the 
comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

It is only in this Way that I can interpret the purpose of 
the bereavement you have sustained. Hundreds of times 
you have spoken words of consolation to those whom death 
has bereft of friends, of brothers, of sisters, of parents, 
and now with what new tenderness will you ever speak to 
those to whom life can never again be what it was, because 
of another loss to which no other is comparable. 

My dear Dr. Palmer, I gratefully remember your gentle 
and loving sympathy when I was passing through a trial 
like your own — the greatness of which succeeding years 
have only made me increasingly sensible of, so that I can 
say — 

" Time but the impression deeper makes, 
As streams their channels deeper wear." 

Let us look for our solace in the heavenly reunion and in 
our increased usefulness on earth. 

Yours affectionately, Moses D. Hoge. 

Two other calamities, and these of a public nature, must 
sadden the pages of this chapter. 

On April 27, 1870, the floor of the Senate Chamber fell in, 
killing sixty-five persons, and wounding two hundred more. 
In a moment, Richmond was turned into a house of mourn- 
ing. A political reaction had brought once more into public 
life many of the best men of the State, and the sudden loss of 
so many such men, brought back, with distressing vividness, 
the horrors and sorrows of the war. The calamity was over- 
ruled into a dispensation of spiritual blessing, and, "subdued 



258 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



by a common sadness, the entire population of the city bowed 
in penitence before the Lord. 1 

On October 12th, of the same year, the Great Captain 
of the Confederacy finished his course. Had he been struck 
down in the midst of the storm of war, his loss to the South 
could hardly have been greater than now, when his superb 
example shone like a guiding star before the whole South, 
leading them into the paths of peaceful endeavor, and in- 
spiring them with a sense of the dignity of true manhood. 
To Dr. Hoge his death came not only as a public calamity, 
but a personal loss; and his sermon on his death was con- 
sidered one of the noblest efforts of his life. 

As this decade was drawing to a close, a determined effort 
was made from several different directions to remove Dr. 
Hoge from Richmond. The great promise of Washington 
College, under the presidency of General Lee, made the call 
to Lexington peculiarly attractive. St. Louis, Nashville and 
Memphis sought his services for their largest churches, and 
in St. Louis his big-hearted cousin, Dr. Brookes, wrote, "If 
you don't like Anderson's church, 2 take mine, and I will get 
another." 

A group of prominent and wealthy Southerners in Balti- 
more were anxious to found a new Southern church, and 
pledged to Dr. Hoge an adequate support and the rent of a 
suitable building, with all other necessary expenses, until a 
congregation could be gathered and a church building 
erected. At the same time, friends in New York made over- 
tures to him with regard to a church there. 

It was urged upon him that Richmond was a hopelessly 
crippled town; that it could never recover from the shock 
and ravages of the war ; that in the larger cities of the West 
or North, his usefulness would be greatly extended; that 

1 For a fuller account see Dr. Hoge's Memorial Address (Appen- 
dix, page 482), and for his prayer at the public meeting, April 28, 1870, 
see Appendix, page 492. 

2 The Central. 



The Valley of the Shadow. 



259 



Richmond was the scene of painful memories, associated 
with public calamity and private bereavement, and could 
never again be to him what it had been in the past. 

All this Dr. Hoge considered and weighed. He sought 
counsel of friends, and — came to his own decision. He had 
not made a decision never to leave Richmond, but he had 
determined not to leave it until the reasons for going were 
so overwhelming as to leave no room for doubt. He still 
believed in Richmond, and his heart was still there. The 
outspoken sentiment of the whole community counted for 
much ; the tears and entreaties of his own people far more. 
Nothing touched his heart more tenderly than a well- 
thumbed petition from the operatives in the Tredegar Iron 
Works. And Richmond won the day. 

Cheered by these widespread manifestations of apprecia- 
tion, sustained by the loyalty of the church and city that he 
loved so well, and for which he had done so much ; strength- 
ened by the fiery discipline through which he had passed, and 
enriched by the vast and varied experience through which he 
had come, he stands at his post in the full maturity of his 
powers, ready for the broader fields of usefulness that lie 
before him in the more prosperous days to come. 



CHAPTER XL 
Broader Fields. 
1871 — 1880. 

"The heights by great men reached and kept 
Were not attained by sudden flight, 
But they, while their companions slept, 
Were toiling upward in the night." 

— Longfellow. 

DR. HOGE entered upon the eighth decade of the century 
with a little more than fifty years of life behind him, 
and with something over twenty-five years of his ministry 
accomplished. Much of his life had been spent in struggle : 
struggle in his boyhood and youth to educate himself; 
struggle in his early ministry, grappling with the debt that 
threatened his church with disaster ; struggle in his maturer 
manhood with the stormy problems of the war, and the bitter 
problems of defeat ; struggle all the time with a proud and 
imperious disposition, which chafed under the rod of disci- 
pline, but which his higher nature was ever seeking, by 
grace, to bring into subjection to the will of God. But his 
heavenly Father had not spared the rod, and it was a serener, 
gentler, stronger spirit that came from under the rod, and 
out of the valley into the serener heights to which he had 
attained. Henceforth his life lay before him like a broad 
table-land, undulating, it is true, and rising always towards 
the infinite beyond, but with no gloomy depths to fathom 
and no perilous heights to scale. Lonely he often was, and 
often sad ; but loneliness was enlightened by those invisible 
companionships that a fertile mind creates, and re-creates 
for itself ; and sadness was sweetened by precious memories 
and blessed hopes, and by the consciousness of a mission to 
a world that was full of sadness — and of sin. 
His cousin, Dr. Brookes, wrote him : 



Broader Fields. 



261 



I have often thought of you, and sometimes fancied that 
a feeling of unutterable loneliness must frequently come 
over you in the midst of your most active duties. The 
tenderest ties of life have been sundered, and all the past 
sends the echoes of the tomb to your heart. Father, mother, 
sister, brother, children, wife, earliest and dearest friends, 
all passed on before, and you standing alone, bravely con- 
tending against, but powerless to stay, the on-rushing tide 
of error and evil and ruin sweeping over Church and State. 

But Dr. Hoge's view of the future was different. He felt 
that the Church of Christ, built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, groweth into a holy temple in the 
Lord ; and that not by a sudden cataclysm, but by the work 
to which every builder contributed was the kingdom of God 
to be established in the world. 

In matters of state, too, the day was not far distant when 
he could say once more, "Our country," and find his sym- 
pathies going out to every part of this broad land, and in 
every part of that land he was to find himself welcomed 
and honored. 

His decision to remain in Richmond was vindicated very 
speedily. It was his fortune to have those things come to 
his doors that he had declined as inducements to go else- 
where. He had declined to go to the Federal Capital, and 
Richmond became the Confederate Capital. More recently 
he had declined to go to larger cities, and the rapid growth 
of Richmond furnished the fullest field for his energies. He 
had declined to go to Lexington, and Richmond College was 
established. 

Although an institution under Baptist auspices, the stu- 
dents always composed a large part of his afternoon 
audiences, and all over the South there are Baptist ministers 
to testify their indebtedness to his preaching, as giving them 
their highest ideal of the gospel ministry. 

The growth of his congregations under these conditions 
was so great as to compel the enlargement of his church. 
Its Gothic architecture easily lent itself to enlargement by 



262 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



throwing out wings of equal length on each side to form a 
transept. There was no "choir" or apse behind the pulpit, 
the space being occupied by the Sunday-school building ; so 
that the form of the audience-room was a T and not a cross. 
The galleries were bent around the angles into the wings r 
so as to surround the whole church except the pulpit wall. 
The original length of the church (seventy feet) remained 
unchanged, but the wings, added to the breadth of the nave, 
made an entire stretch in the transept of one hundred feet. 
The speaker turning to the left or right had almost as large 
a congregation before him as in front. Twelve or thirteen 
hundred could be comfortably seated, while two or three 
hundred more were often packed in. There was no seat in 
the house where the speaker could not be seen, and the 
remotest man was not more than eighty or ninety feet dis- 
tant from the speaker ; but the auditor sitting in any part of 
the house felt that sense of infinity that comes from a portion 
of the audience being beyond his view. A noble roof, with 
massive wooden arches, spanned the whole. 

The entire effect was harmonious and inspiring, silencing 
the fears of those who anticipated a piece of patch-work from 
the enlargement. The old Scotch builder — one of the origi- 
nal members of the church, and the only one who survived 
to Dr. Hoge's jubilee — stood in the pulpit the day before the 
dedication, and, after silently surveying the whole, senten- 
tiously said, "Well, I've opened their eyes and shut their 
mouths." 

During the progress of the enlargement the congregation 
occupied the "Assembly Hall," a building of large capacity 
and delightful acoustic properties, but of very plain appear- 
ance, since superseded by the Academy of Music. His 
sermons here attracted many who were not in the habit of 
attending a Christian church. Especial interest was aroused 
by a series of afternoon lectures on the Prophets, Priests and 
Kings of Israel, which a Jewish rabbi asked him to repeat in 
his synagogue. 



1 



Broader Fields. 



263 



With the momentum of these services he entered his new 
church, which he kept full and often packed to overflowing 
for more than a quarter of a century. 

He had now entered upon a higher plane in his preaching. 
While his time suffered constant interruption up to the day 
when he was laid aside, he now had no regular duties but 
those of his ministry. Though he could command little 
time for study until others slept, his more robust health and 
his indomitable will enabled him to study far into the night. 
It was not uncommon for the night editors of the city papers 
to see his light still burning as they went home from their 
labors in the small hours of the morning. Yet seven o'clock 
always found him out of bed, ready for another day's work. 
Not infrequently, under some special stress of duties, he 
worked the whole of Saturday night, going direct from his 
study to his morning bath, after which he seemed as fresh 
as those who had slept all night. With all his readiness in 
extempore speech, one thing he had settled; he would not 
go into his pulpit unprepared. The thinness which, in spite 
of its beauty, had been sometimes felt in the preaching of his 
earlier years, had wholly disappeared. He lost none of his 
delicacy of touch, none of the subtle play of his fancy, none 
of the artistic finish of his earlier work; in all these things 
experience had made him only a more perfect artist ; but he 
had gained in robustness of thought: in compactness of 
argument, in fulness of scriptural exposition. His illustra- 
tions were of wider range and richer vein. He struck deeper 
chords of human experience, and sounded profounder depths 
of divine truth. From the garnered stores of human know- 
ledge, from the inexhaustible treasury of the Scriptures, and 
from the fulness of his own experience, he brought forth 
things new and old. 

The treatment was new, but the truth was old. The flood- 
tide of popularity never swept him from his moorings, and 
he despised the itch for notoriety that betrayed the minister 
of God into sensationalism. He regarded this as the greatest 



264 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



danger of the American pulpit, and seems to have meditated 
a treatise upon the subject; with regard to which he wrote 
to Dr. Shedd, and received the following reply : 

I am sorry that I am unable to refer you to any treatise, 
or even any essay, upon the present tendencies of the pulpit 
in the direction of which you speak. I know of nothing. 
Most of what has been written of late in the reviews and 
magazines has favored, rather than hindered, latitudina- 
rianism in doctrine, and superficial preaching. The cur- 
rent literature in the periodicals is against us, and one rea- 
son why sensational preachers get large audiences in large 
towns is the fact that the periodical constitutes nearly all 
the reading. Those who read standard literature are good 
hearers, and do not join the crowd. 

I am rejoiced to know that you have taken the matter 
into consideration, and hope that you will give the public, 
and especially the ministry, the benefit of your knowledge, 
experience and observation. You will have an almost en- 
tirely untrodden field. Such a treatise will be welcomed 
by a large class of our best men and minds, who lament 
with you the sensationalism and feebleness in respect to 
all the higher qualities of preaching, which marks a certain 
class of popular preachers. 

Some time later he wrote an editorial for the Central 
Presbyterian 1 on one aspect of the subject, that of "Adver- 
tising Texts." He closed by asking, "Why should the min- 
ister stop here? If it is his great object to attract the crowd, 
why not make himself as ridiculous as his theme ? Why not 
come into the pulpit with a cap and bells on his head? or 
with a couple of lilies in his right hand and a sunflower in 
his button-hole ?" 

The variety of theme and treatment that others sought 
in sensational departures from the word of God he found in 
a faithful adherence to it. By presenting truth in its biblical 
setting, and clothing it in its biblical imagery, he distilled 
the honey from every flower, but preserved the different 

1 While he had no official connection with the paper after 1859, ^ e 
often contributed to its editorial columns. 



Broader Fields. 



265 



beauty and fragrance of each. The variety of his preaching 
was not the variety of a peddler's pack, but the variety of 
nature; with glowing flowers and rich fruits, and sunny 
fields and gleaming waters, with now the whisper of the 
breeze in the tree-tops, and now the rush of the storm in the 
forest, or the beat of the surf upon the shore. This was the 
variety — the variety in unity — the 

"one clear harp in divers tones," 

by which for over half a century in the same city this one 
man held the changing throngs. 

While his ministry drew increasing crowds at home his 
reputation was growing abroad. To his good friend, Mrs. 
Brown, Judge Ould wrote of a service at the White Sulphur 
Springs, then, as in bygone years, attracting to itself men of 
distinction from all parts of the land * 

I need not say to you how he did the work ; how he put 
his materials together and showed forth a structure radiant 
from dome to foundation stone ; but I will say something 
of the effects. Of course all his special friends were jubi- 
lant; indeed, to them the whole affair took the form and 
hue of a personal triumph. The most intelligent of the 
audience were the best pleased, perhaps in the ratio of their 

sense. Mr. C , an Episcopalian of Washington, said, 

with a glow on his face that tokened his sincerity, that he 
would give any money for the privilege of such preaching 
every Sabbath. I told him he could get it just in that style 
for nothing by coming to Richmond. Mrs. P , of Balti- 
more, who is here with a coach and four, and a daughter 
millionaire, who expects to be married some day to some- 
body, now not known, declares that Richmond is too small 
for the Doctor, and that he must and shall go to Baltimore. 
She said so to me, and I smiled incredulously, not thinking 
it proper to contradict a coach and four. If the daughter 
had said the same, perhaps I would have even stayed the 
smile. The opinions of a millionaire must and shall be 
respected. 

In 1872, Dr. Hoge made a visit to Princeton that occa- 
sioned his friends some anxiety, as it was his first public 



266 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



appearance in the North since the war. They never troubled 
themselves in that way again. A friend wrote of the ser- 
vices : 

I don't think I ever saw a quiet, staid community so 
moved by a single Sabbath's services. They were the first, 
almost the only subject of remark by all whom I met. It 
was a spontaneous outburst of something better than ad- 
miration — of great joy. The morning service in the Chapel 
was deeply impressive, faithful and tender; so good that 
Dr. McCosh will not admit it to be inferior to the second. 
The students seemed to me very solemn. I saw many wipe 
their eyes ; one said to me, "I never heard such preaching 
in this chapel before." And yet the sermon at night ex- 
celled in power. It was one of the most logical and lucid 
arguments I ever listened to, the ablest refutation of error, 
and most convincing vindication of glorious truth; all 
clothed with such exquisite grace and beauty as to make 
it a grand poem. 

The congregation caught the preacher's enthusiasm, or 
rather his enthusiasm caught the congregation, and car- 
ried them along with him. Of the incomparable reading of 
scriptures, rendering of hymns, and the sweet inspiring 
prayers I need not write. 

Should we not hope and pray for great blessing from this 
preaching of the word? Then will come high reward, the 
only reward for the work of faith and labor of love. 

Of the same visit Dr. Miller wrote to Mrs. Brown : 

I went early and watched the gathering in with a degree 
of nervous excitement that surprised me. I was very 
anxious for a good impression on many accounts, and I 
was greatly gratified to observe the deep attention and 
emotion of the whole audience, young and old. Again and 
again during the sermon there was a painful stillness, 
marking both the power of the preacher and the intense 
feeling of his hearers. 

At night the services were in the First Church. Both of 
its large galleries were full, as was also the floor, with an 
eager and most attentive congregation. This, to my mind, 
was the best of two sermons. The morning sermon sat- 
isfied me because I saw how great an impression it made; 



Broader Fields. 



267 



but I said to a professor at the door of the chapel, who was 
much pleased with it, "Dr. Hoge can do better than that." 
At night, meeting this same gentleman in the aisle, I whis- 
pered to him, "You know I promised you Dr. Hoge could 
do better, and you see he has done it." "My !" he replied, 
"I never heard such preaching in my life a speech he has 
repeated to me since, when in cool blood he could look back 
upon it ; but I have heard but one impression from every- 
body, and that of the warmest admiration. The students 
were delighted, our few Southern boys being proud as welf 
as pleased. 

It may be, too, that better service has been done, a hun- 
dred-fold, than that of merely gaining for himself the ad- 
miration of the audience. Dr. Hart told Mrs. Miller that 
there was a decided religious seriousness in the college sub- 
sequent to this visit. Whether those sermons produced it 
or only developed it, he could not say. In either case, Dr. 
Hoge and his friends should feel grateful that God should 
so honor and bless him. All human eulogy sinks into no- 
thingness before this. 

One word more. As to social attention nothing was 
omitted. All the professors called — some after he had 
gone, and every visit was marked with the utmost cordi- 
ality and respect. There was not a trace of any unpleasant 
memories, nor the slightest approach to a recognition of 
any differences, social, sectional, ecclesiastical or political. 
I doubt whether Dr. John Hall, who had no Confederate 
history or Southern-churchism, ever received any greater 
or more cordial attention here than Dr. Hoge. 

From the venerable Dr. Charles Hodge, Dr. Hoge re- 
ceived a kindly note of regret that illness prevented his- 
hearing him and calling upon him. Dr. Hoge called to see 
him, and always cherished the memory of the pathetic tender- 
ness with which the aged saint received his visit, recalling 
sacred memories of the elder Dr. Hoge, of whom Dr. Hodge 
said, "Your grandfather was the holiest man I ever met, and 
I esteem it one of the greatest privileges of my life to have 
known him." 

The following July he spoke in Philadelphia — on just 



268 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



what occasion does not appear. He wrote to a friend in 
answer to congratulations upon the speech as printed : 

I could have had more of this recompense had you been 
present that night, and seen for yourself the cold inquisi- 
torial aspect of the audience as I commenced my address, 
giving expression as I did to the feeling of loneliness that 
oppressed me in that crowd, and then the gradual mani- 
festations of sympathy, and at last the enthusiastic greet- 
ings which came up, like the waves on a beach, toward the 
close. 

A more distinguished opportunity presented itself the fol- 
lowing October, when the World's Evangelical Alliance held 
its sessions in New York, and outstanding men from both 
sides of the Atlantic gathered together to discuss the things 
of the kingdom. Dr. Hoge was invited to speak on the 
"Mission Field of the South." His address was a noble 
vindication of Southern civilization, which commanded the 
respect, if it did not wholly carry the convictions, of his 
audience, while the broad Christian philanthropy of his 
appeal for the cooperation and sympathy of the Christian 
world in the vast task of rebuilding out of the ruins of the 
old a new civilization in righteousness and the fear of God, 
carried the hearts as well as the consciences of his hearers. 
This address established his fame upon a firm basis through- 
out the Christian world, while it received the warm thanks 
of his own Southern people ; but even now he preferred the 
preaching of the gospel and the rewards it brought. He 
wrote : 

Morristown, October 16, 1873. 

My Dear Sister : The kindness of your favor of yester- 
day and its superabundant appreciation of my humble 
contribution to the treasures of the Alliance, profoundly 
moves me, and awakens more than gratitude. 

Sunday was best of all the seven. It was an unusual 
scene in a stately New York church, when at the close of 
my sermon, Dr. Gause rose and thanked me before the con- 
gregation for a discourse, which, he said, God had sent me 



Broader Fields. 



269 



there to deliver,, containing the very truth he most wished 
his people to hear on that very day., as the next Sabbath was 
their communion Sabbath. I responded briefly to this, and 
made a short address, tender and encouraging as I could 
express it, to those who might be thinking of mak- 
ing a public profession of their faith on the coming 
Sunday. 

I could not anticipate as good a time again, at night, in 
Dr. Deems'' "Church of the Strangers." 

I had a better time. Knowing that Steinway Hall, the 
Academy of Music, Cooper Institute, Tammany Hall, as 
well as all the churches, would be thronged at night, I an- 
ticipated a thin audience. 

I found the church packed, aisles and all. I preached a 
sermon I had arranged that afternoon (having changed 
my theme after dinner) without any notes, and I had what 
the old divines used to call "liberty" of feeling, thought and 
expression, which greatly helped me in its delivery. 

I have been trying to find time since I came to Morris- 
town to write it out, and so preserve it, but have not been 
able. 

In 1875, when some English gentlemen, under the lead 
of Mr. Beresford-Hope, presented to the State of Virginia 
the Foley statue of Stonewall Jackson, the committee of the 
Virginia Legislature charged with the arrangements for its 
reception unanimously fixed upon Dr. Hoge to deliver the 
oration at its inauguration. 

Such an occasion does not come to many men ; nor to any 
man more than once. The people of Virginia and of the 
South were there. They gazed upon the tattered remnants 
of the old Stonewall Brigade. They looked upon the widow 
and child of their dead chieftain. They came to honor his 
memory and to commemorate the Lost Cause. It was the 
first of such occasions — the "inauguration of a new Pan- 
theon." In no other land could such a celebration have taken 
place, certainly not so soon after such a war. In no other 
land could such a gift from citizens of a foreign nation have 
been received. The eyes of the whole country were fixed 



2?0 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



upon Richmond; and across the seas the occasion was 
watched with an interest scarcely less eager. A key-note 
was to be struck. Would it ring false or true ? 

In the oration of that day there was no note of subser- 
viency. It was boldly stated that Southern people would 
never "add degradation to defeat and hypocrisy to subjuga- 
tion by professing a love for the Union which denies to one 
of their States a single right accorded to Massachusetts or 
New York for South Carolina and Louisiana and Florida 
were still coerced by Federal bayonets ; but there was, at the 
same time, the broadest spirit of patriotism : 

Why may there not be a comprehension of what is 
truly politic, and what is grandly right, slumbering in the 
hearts of our American people — a people at once so practi- 
cal and emotional, so capable of great enterprise and 
greater magnanimity — a patriotism which is yet to awake 
and announce itself in a repudiation of all unconstitutional 
invasion of the liberties of the citizens of any portion of 
this broad Union? When we remember the awful strain 
to which the principles of other constitutional govern- 
ments have been subjected in the excitement of revolution- 
ary epochs, and how, when seemingly submerged by the 
tempest, they have risen again and reasserted themselves 
in their original integrity, why should we despair of seeing 
the ark of our liberties again resting on the summit of the 
mount, and hallowed by the benediction of him who said, 
"Behold, I do set my bow in the cloud !" 

And now, standing before this statue, and, as in the 
living presence of the man it represents, cordially endors- 
ing, as I do, the principles of the political school in which 
he was trained, and in defence of which he died, and un- 
able yet even to think of our dead Confederacy without 
memories unutterably tender, I speak not for myself, but 
for the South, when I say it is our interest, our duty and 
determination, to maintain the Union, and to make every 
possible contribution to its prosperity and glory, if all the 
States which compose it will unite in making it such a 
Union as our fathers framed, and in enthroning above it, 
not a Caesar, but the Constitution in its old supremacy. 



Broader Fields. 



271 



But the characteristic feature of the occasion — one that 
was emphasized by the selection of the orator not from the 
ranks of those engaged in political strife, but from the min- 
istry of the gospel of peace — was that the man whose fame 
was celebrated rose above party, above section, above na- 
tionality, and commanded the homage of the world. Dr. 
Hoge was annoyed at an editorial in the London Times, 
.attaching political significance to the occasion, and wrote to 
Mr. Beresford-Hope a letter of explanation : 1 

Richmond, November 15, 1875. 
A. J. B. Beresford-Hope, Esq.: 

My Dear Sir: I saw in the New York Tribune this 
morning an extract from an editorial in the London Times 
which singularly misrepresents the design and spirit of our 
demonstration at the unveiling of the Jackson statue. 

The celebration here had no political significance what- 
ever. It has not had the slightest political effect. It was 
not intended to excite animosities between the North and 
the South, nor to stir up rancor between Great Britain and 
America. 

So far from it, I announced it to be the purpose of the 
Southern people to maintain the government as it was now 
constituted, though we should profess no love for a Union 
in which the Southern States are denied privileges accorded 
to the Northern. 

Moreover, I said, "We accept this statue as a pledge of 
the peaceful relations which we trust will ever exist be- 
tween Great Britain and the confederated empire formed 
by the United States of America." 

We did not regard the statue in the light of a gift from 
England, but as the kind expression of the sympathy which 
English gentlemen felt for our people, and of their admi- 
ration for the character of Stonewall Jackson. 

The fact is this : the arrival of that statue gave an occa- 
sion to the Southern people for showing their passionate 
love for the memory of Jackson. It was their first oppor- 

1 He wrote a similar letter to his friend, Mr. Lawley, who, from his 
•connection with the London Telegraph, was in a position to correct 
the mistake. 



272 Moses Drury Hoge. 

tunity to render to his memory the homage they had cher- 
ished in their hearts. It delighted them to do this publicly, 
and they did it with the greatest enthusiasm. They did not 
come together in thronging thousands to make a political 
demonstration. They were drawn together by a stronger 
and nobler attraction. In this light most sensible periodi- 
cals in the North regard our memorial day. The New 
York Tribune so views it, and the New York World of the 
10th instant gives a true statement of the spirit of the ad- 
dresses delivered by Governor Kemper and myself. 
Very respectfully and truly yours, 

Moses D'. Hoge. 

To which he received the following reply : 

Ashboro House, Connaught Place, 

London, November 27, 1875. 

My Dear Sir: The kindness of your letter enhances 
the pleasure with which I have read your eloquent oration, 
which I have had the opportunity of doing, thanks both to 
yourself and to Governor Kemper. 

It was a grand occasion, and you rose to it. I need not 
tell you how we sympathized in England with your hero. 
The completion and gift of the statue was a joy to right- 
minded people, and the reception which your noble State ac- 
corded to it thrilled sympathetically through English hearts. 

My absence, which was inevitable, was a great disap- 
pointment to me. It is very kind of you to say that it was 
felt in Richmond. Believe me, my dear sir, 

Yours very sincerely, 

A. J. B. Beresford-Hope. 

Before referring, as he did, to the opinion of the "English 
Earl, honored on both sides of the Atlantic," he wrote to 
him, recalling the remark made to him in London, and asking 
his permission to quote it. Lord Shaftesbury answered in 
the following cordial note : 

Castle Wemyss, Wemyss Bay, N. B., September 2, 1875. 
Dear Dr. Hoge : It is a very great honor to me that my 
opinion should be thought worthy of being quoted in a 
testimonial to General Stonewall Jackson. 



Broader Fields. 



273 



So far from recalling what I said to you in London, I 
emphatically repeat it. America may well rejoice in having 
produced, among many others, three such eminent men as 
Washington, Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. Were they alive 
now they would be above all criticism as public men; 
slavery, God be praised, having passed away, the only 
cloud that obscured their bright intelligence and virtue. 

You will not, I hope, forget to call on me, should I be 
alive, when you revisit England. 

May God be with you, through time and in eternity. 

Yours truly, Shaftesbury. 

That the whole occasion tended to promote good feeling 
between the North and South is illustrated by this incident, 
of which Dr. Hoge wrote to a friend : 

My last letter about the Jackson Memorial Address came 
a few days ago from Professor Frink, of Hamilton College, 
New York, who says he has selected some portions of it 
which especially pleased him for exercises in declamation in 
his rhetorical class — New York boys reciting eulogies on a 
Confederate General ! 

And if there had been no other fruit of the day, the happi- 
ness it gave to the gentle heart of one true woman who had 
suffered so much would have been to Dr. Hoge reward 
enough. Mrs. Jackson wrote : 

I thank you kindly for the good supply of the oration 
received by express. I have read it carefully twice, and 
with new pleasure each time. You have received so many 
graceful and beautiful commendations on its merits that 
I feel a hesitancy in offering my meed of praise, and yet 
there can be no heart, whose chords have been so touched, 
or that has vibrated more in unison with every word so 
truly and beautifully spoken by you, as my own. 

I wish you could know how much I value your true ap- 
preciation of the exalted Christian character of my sainted 
husband. 

In these gloomy days that have followed upon my return 
home, I have lived over my delightful visit to Richmond, 
and am more and more impressed with the conviction that 



274 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



nothing was wanting to complete its perfect enjoyment. 
Of course, I can never have such another epoch in my life, 
but there was enough in this to shed brightness and grati- 
tude over all the future, and to make me a better and hap- 
pier woman to the end of my days. 

Wishing you and yours every blessing, I am, 
Most truly your friend, 

M. A. Jackson. 

The oration is given in full in the Appendix, 1 but General 
D. H. Hill's account of it gives some touches that are not 
found in the printed speech : 

Dr. Hoge made the mighty effort of his life. He was 
inspired by the grandeur of the occasion, by the vastness 
of the audience, and above all by the greatness of the sub- 
ject of his eulogy. He impressed all who heard him that he 
is the most eloquent orator on this continent. Carried 
away by the enthusiasm caused by the mighty surround- 
ings, Dr. Hoge made his most eloquent utterances extem- 
poraneously, and they did not appear in his published 
speech. He paid a most glowing tribute to General Joseph 
E. Johnston, "the greatest of living soldiers, whose singu- 
lar fortune it was always to encounter vastly superior 
forces, and therefore to be always retreating, but his re- 
treats gave no confidence to his enemies and demoralized 
not one whit his own devoted followers." The cheer that 
greeted this outburst of Dr. Hoge was as hearty and spon- 
taneous from the tens of thousands of listening soldiers as 
from the eloquent orator himself. General Johnston was 
much affected by this honest tribute of love, confidence and 
admiration, and came forward and bowed his acknowledg- 
ments. 

Dr. Hoge, in closing his address, alluded to the prophecy 
of Jackson, that the time would come when his men would 
be proud that they belonged to the Stonewall Brigade. 
Rising to his full height, the orator exclaimed in his clear, 
ringing tones, "Men of the Stonewall Brigade, that time 
has come. Behold the image of your illustrious com- 
mander!" The veil was raised, the life-like statue stood 

1 Page 425. 



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275 



revealed, recalling so vividly the loved form of the illustri- 
ous soldier that tears rained down ten thousand faces. 
Men of sternest natures, cast iron men, were weeping like 
children. 

Earlier in the same year an honor had been bestowed upon 
Dr. Hoge that brought him into a line of work for which he 
had little relish, but in which he was to be eminently useful. 
His presbytery having sent him to the General Assembly — as 
usual against his protest — he was unanimously and without 
opposition elected Moderator. His dignity and grace in 
conducting public exercises, his tact and skill in giving things 
a happy turn, his deference and courtesy to his brethren, and 
his habitual promptness in decision made him an ideal pre- 
siding officer. Perhaps in no part of his duties did his 
peculiar gifts show to more advantage than in the reception 
of delegates from other bodies. Their addresses were, of 
course, prepared; in his extempore replies he would, in 
a brief, sparkling little speech, take up every point in the 
address to which he had just listened, giving to every 
thought some new and happy turn. 

To a dear friend, who had sent him a letter of congratula- 
tion, he replies : 

St. Louis, May 31, 1875. 
My Dear Friend: I have dated my letter May 31st, but 
it is one o'clock on the morning of June 1st, and I have just 
returned to my room after the adjournment of the As- 
sembly and the long leave-taking of friends who detained 
me. 

How can I better show my appreciation of your kind 
congratulation and good wishes than by sending you this 
line at this most weary hour ? 

It is an honor to be Moderator of an Assembly like ours, 
but I need not tell you how irksome it is to a restless person 
like myself, who cannot sit still with comfort half an hour, 
even in a parlor, but go walking about like an evil spirit 
seeking rest and finding none; and then the tax on one's 
attention for so many days together, keeping the run of 
business and having to decide in an instant so many points 



276 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of order, adds greatly to the bore of the position ; but it is 
all over now, and I can indulge in a little thankfulness that, 
so far from having an appeal taken from any of my de- 
cisions, not one of them was even questioned. We had 
many difficult and delicate questions to discuss, but the 
harmony was unbroken, and when we closed our sessions 
to-night with the hymn, "Blest be the tie that binds," we 
felt the beatitude in our hearts which we sang with our 
lips. 

It was my hope that the Cleveland Assembly would put 
it in our power to establish " fraternal relations" by one 
frank and manly expression of regret for the injurious im- 
putations heaped on us for so many years. It was informed 
that if it would but say they were "disapproved and dis- 
avowed," we would gladly meet them on that ground ; but 
the utterance did not come before our adjournment. 

I leave for Richmond to-morrow. 

Affectionately your friend, M. D. H. 

The question of "fraternal relations" to which he alludes 
was one much on his heart. Properly speaking, fraternal 
relations already existed, in the mutual recognition given to 
the order and discipline of each body by the other, and in 
the free interchange of pulpits, and other forms of com- 
munion; but the term was used to denote official corres- 
pondence between the Assemblies by the formal interchange 
of delegates. 

According to immemorial Presbyterian usage, Dr. Hoge 
was the chairman of the Committee of Bills and Overtures — 
which prepares the most important business for the house 
— in the following Assembly, which met in Savannah. It 
was his laudable ambition to signalize his term of office by 
the accomplishment of that which was so near his heart, 
and which he felt would mean much for the glory of Christ. 
No one was more staunch in maintaining the dignity and 
honor of his church. Reunion he did not regard with favor 
for many practical reasons; but he felt that a Christian 
Church, like a Christian man, should in all things, and above 
all things, show the spirit of Christ. Several years before, 



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277 



in correspondence with Dr. Field, he had so expressed him- 
self as to elicit this reply : 

Dear Dr. Hoge: Your very kind letter reached me at. 
our country place, and was very grateful to my heart. I 
find that Christian love knows no State lines, no geo- 
graphical boundaries, and that when good men come 
together, they are drawn to each other in spite of all preju- 
dices. I am receiving a good many letters from the South, 
but as they are private, I cannot make any use of them. I 
am beginning to feel that there are more obstacles to re- 
union than we supposed. Perhaps time and patience will 
remove them. If not, we can at least soften irritations, 
and so do something to heal this grievous wound that mars 
the body of Christ as well as the State. 

In this spirit he sought to meet the question in the Savan- 
nah Assembly. The time seemed propitious, for his, and the 
South's, warm friend, Dr. Van Dyke, was in the Moderator's 
chair of the other Assembly. In answer to an overture 
from the Presbytery of St. Louis, asking the Assembly to 
take some further action in regard to fraternal relations with 
the Northern Assembly, the following resolution was 
adopted, upon the recommendation of his committee, and 
telegraphed to the Assembly in Brooklyn, with the assurance 
that they were 1 'ready most cordially to enter on fraternal 
relations on any terms honorable to both parties," indicating 
what those terms were, in their judgment, by the resolution : 

Resolved, That the action of the Baltimore conference, 
approved by the Assembly at St. Louis, explains with suffi- 
cient clearness the position of our Church. 

But, inasmuch as it is represented by the overture that 
misapprehension exists in the minds of some of our people 
as to the spirit of this action, in order to show our dispo- 
sition to remove on our part real or seeming hindrances to 
friendly feeling, the Assembly explicitly declares that, 
while condemning certain acts and deliverances of the 
Northern General Assembly, no acts or deliverances of 
the Southern General Assemblies are to be construed or 



278 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



admitted as impugning in any way the Christian character 
of the Northern General Assembly, or of the historical 
bodies of which it is the successor. 

The intention of the resolution was to make it easier for 
the Northern Assembly to withdraw offensive imputations 
upon the character of the Southern Assembly by disclaiming 
any reflection upon the Christian character of the Northern 
Assembly. Unfortunately the Brooklyn Assembly contented 
itself with repeating the action of the Southern Assembly. 
This was, of course, unsatisfactory. At a later time the 
charges of "heresy, schism and blasphemy" were formally 
withdrawn. If those charges had been made, as thus ad- 
mitted, it was hardly in order to disclaim reflections upon the 
Christian character of those against whom they were made. 
The charges needed to be disavowed. 

In the Chicago Assembly (1877) Dr. Van Dyke sought 
to carry the Assembly farther, and there was a dramatic 
scene when he asked the Assembly to invite the venerable 
Dr. Plumer to address the Assembly. A Chicago paper 1 
thus describes it : 

All eyes were turned toward a cynosure under the gallery 
near the main entrance ; a little gentle clapping of hands in 
that direction disseminated no infection beyond the narrow 
immediate circle. 

Slowly the group separated, and through the friendly 
breach thus formed strolled a majestic figure. 

As the grand vision dawned upon the upturned faces of 
the Assembly, resistance to its charms was impossible; 
generous impulse overcame the heat of prejudice, and 
courtesy paid voluntary tribute to the highest type of man- 
liness. 

The applause rose and swelled and waned again, then 
waxed higher and more fervent as the royal form went on 
down the aisle, and as the gallery caught the first glimpse 
of his advancing figure, ladies and gentlemen rose en masse 
and cheered and cheered again, while the pent-up emotion 

1 Preserved among Dr. Hoge's papers. 



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279 



of the scene found vent here and there in unchecked 
tears. 

On coming forward, the Moderator requested him to 
take a position on the platform, but he politely declined, 
addressing the Moderator and Assembly thus : 

No, sir ; sound ascends, not descends. I shall be heard. 
I wish to say, first of all, why I am here in Chicago. I am 
here entirely on social accounts, and would have been here 
if this Assembly had met in San Francisco. I am not here 
to do anything touching this business, or any other busi- 
ness, except to preach Christ's gospel and see some of my 
old friends before I go hence. 

The second remark I wish to make is, sir, that I fully and 
cordially estimate the embarrassing conditions in which I 
am placed. 

If I say anything, I say it solely for myself and on my 
own account. I am not deputed here by anybody, or by 
letter or otherwise. 

And, thirdly, I wish to say that in my heart I glory in 
the truth conveyed to me in his last letter by one of my old 
teachers now in heaven. It was this : "1 would not give one 
hour of brotherly love for a whole eternity of contention" 
[applause] . That is my sentiment. God in his mercy grant 
that we may all reach that conclusion, "One hour of broth- 
erly love is worth a whole eternity of strife and bitterness." 

Now, sir, God in his providence — a providence that no 
man on earth claims to understand — has raised up Presby- 
terian churches North and South. The Southern Church 
covers a vast area of territory, and has great interests of 
immortal souls — four millions of people who are not dying 
out. It was said the colored race would die out. It will 
not die out. 

The last census shows an increase, including the decade 
during the war, of ten per cent. It is going to live. We 
have great interests there. We need help. The Southern 
Church, through its Assembly, has invited all the world to 
come and work in the field and do good. Can we not do 
something that will profit these people ? Sir, if getting on 
my knees, if lying on this floor and allowing all men to 
trample on my body would be the means of saving the soul 
of one poor black man or black woman, where any other 
course would jeopardize the interests of that soul, I would 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



lie down on this floor [applause] . I ask the brethren to 
think this matter carefully over. 

You say you can do something. You have done some- 
thing. God be praised for what you have done; but can 
you not do more ? Suppose you were to treat the Southern 
Church as three honored brethren have urged — one in Bal- 
timore, one in Philadelphia, and one in New York — that 
you should treat it the same as you treated the Waldenses : 
give them funds, give them means, and ask them to employ 
these means in building up the cause of Christ, and for 
every dollar they expended there would be good results — 
blessed results. 

We honor your missionaries there. We love them. Dr. 
Mattoon was the companion of my own nephew, who bore 
my own name, in the mission to Siam. He is my friend. 
Books that I have written are class-books in that institu- 
tion. Can you not help us in this thing ? 

Suppose, brethren, by the grace of God, you were en- 
abled to say what will at once forever silence all contests 
and bitterness — can you not say it ? I would give anything 
if you could; and yet you must judge for yourselves. I 
know not what the vote of this house shall be, but one 
thing is certain, Jesus Christ will this day be greatly hon- 
ored or dishonored by this body ; and this body must judge 
whether its action is to honor or dishonor the Saviour, and 
not I. 

Another thing I wish to say is, that this body will can- 
didly, I have no doubt, to-day vote as it has hitherto done — 
candidly vote what it wishes to say. It will be understood ; 
it will be settled. I would love to see these hindrances re- 
moved in my time ; but there will be a good many things 
done after my head goes down to the grave, and if God 
denies me that privilege, be it so. 

There is not a man in the Southern country who does not 
desire fraternal relations in terms both equal and honorable 
[applause] . There is not a man in the Southern country 
who wishes this body to humble itself or abase itself before 
anybody. But this is true : if I have stated, Mr. Moderator, 
that you are not a gentleman, it is due to me, it is more due 
to me than it is to you, that I should say, "I ought not to 
have used those words" [applause] . 

Now, sir, I heard a conversation day before yesterday 



Broader Fields. 



about memories. Some one said that a man had an excel- 
lent memory, that he never forgot anything. I had read 
of a better memory than that — it was the memory of Lord 
Archbishop Cranmer, of whom it is said he never forgot 
anything but injuries [applause]. 

Oh ! what a memory that must be, to cherish everything 
that is endearing, and forget and forgive. 

God in mercy give us all such memories [applause]. 

The action plead for was finally taken in 1882 ; but that 
"good gray head" had been two years under the sod. Or 
rather — shall we not say? — that lofty spirit had joined the 
general assembly where brethren always dwell together in 
unity. 

If Dr. Hoge failed to accomplish, by the action of the 
.Savannah Assembly, his heart's desire on this subject, there 
was another subject, closely akin, in which his efforts were 
crowned with complete success. 

In pursuance of a resolution of the St. Louis Assembly, 
Dr. Stuart Robinson had attended a conference in London 
-composed of representatives of the most important Presby- 
terian bodies of the world, with a view to forming an alliance 
for mutual conference and cooperation. Dr. Robinson pre- 
sented a report of its proceedings to the Savannah Assembly, 
with a copy of the provisional constitution adopted. The 
Committee on Bills and Overtures reported through Dr. 
Hoge resolutions approving the general tenor of the pro- 
ceedings of the London conference and of the constitution 
adopted, and providing for the appointment of delegates to 
represent the Church in the General Council to be held in 
Edinburgh in 1877. 

The debate on the resolutions was long and warm. Dr. 
-Robinson led the debate in favor of the resolutions, and Dr. 
Adger in opposition. Dr. Hoge remained silent through 
the whole discussion, which lasted several days, but was, by 
the courtesy of the house, accorded the closing speech. The 
-opposition was based partly upon the idea that the Alliance 



282 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



might grow into an ecumenical council, with ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction over the churches ; partly upon the heterodoxy 
or doubtful orthodoxy of some of the churches represented ; 
partly upon the expense involved without corresponding 
benefit; partly upon the compromising position in which it 
would place the church to enter the same body with the 
Northern church, while refusing direct correspondence with 
that church. Unquestionably the gravamen of the opposi- 
tion was on the last ground, but on that ground alone the 
opposition could not command a majority of the Assembly, 
as shown by its action on "fraternal relations." The great 
work, therefore, of those who favored the Alliance was to 
demolish the other arguments. 

Dr. Hoge began by saying that "to argue for victory is. 
unworthy of a member of an ecclesiastical court ; to seek to 
ascertain what is true and then to do what is right is an 
obligation resting on every one." He did not wish to take- 
advantage of his position in making the closing speech, and 
if any one had any questions to ask or any answer to make- 
to anything he said, he hoped he would not hesitate to do 
so. "It does not interrupt me to be interrupted." Dr. 
Girardeau — Dr. Hoge's predecessor in the moderatorship, 
but a visitor at that Assembly — said to a gentleman sitting 
by him, "Now watch him; out of these interruptions will 
come his happiest hits and his finest flights." 

Dr. Hoge first met the point that the agitation threatened 
the peace of the church. "If peace were the only watchword, 
none of the charters of rights would have been wrung from 
unwilling tyrants, none of the battles of freedom would have 
been fought. The cry of peace must never arrest true 
progress." 

The progress in this movement was not towards consoli- 
dation, but towards spiritual unity. Spiritual unity could be 
recognized without organic union. The tendency of the age 
— and one of its best tendencies — was the disposition of 
Christians to recognize the essential truths which they held 



Broader Fields. 



in common as bonds of spiritual affection, leading them to 
unite in such general Christian work as they could prosecute 
together. 

The question of constitutionality could be met by a reso- 
lution he proposed to offer, declaring the council to be, not a 
court, but only an assemblage of committees meeting for 
conference and cooperation. The question of expense was 
an individual one for the delegates appointed or their 
churches. To a question as to whether representation was 
to be confined to rich ministers and churches, he replied that 
the Presbyterian Church recognized no such distinctions, 
and that he was sure the brother had not intended to excite 
class prejudices by his question; but if this brother was 
appointed a delegate, he would see that the question of ex- 
pense was not an obstacle to his going. It was not necessary 
to send a full delegation. One man like his friend Dr. 
Palmer could adequately represent the whole church. 

Having thus cleared the ground, Dr. Hoge addressed him- 
self to the main question of cut bono — the advantage to be 
derived from the alliance. It was, in a word, a plea for 
breadth as opposed to narrowness, for contact and commu- 
nion as opposed to isolation and exclusion, for progress as 
opposed to stagnation : but. while keeping steadily on with 
his argument, he met in passing a running fire of questions. 

Gen. ; Does Dr. Hoge consider the French Protes- 
tant Church, which was a member of the Confederation, a 
sound church? 

Dr. Hoge: A portion of the French Church is unques- 
tionably orthodox. 

Gen. : A gentleman in this Assembly who has re- 
sided in France tells me that three-fourths of the Protestant 
Church of France deny the divinity of Christ. 

Dr. Hoge: That is partially true, and greatly to be de- 
plored, but it is not true of the branch of the French Church 
represented in this Alliance. 

Gen. : Do you consider the Northern Church ortho- 
dox? 



284 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Dr. Hoge: I do in the sense that that word is applied to 
other churches in this Alliance, and — leaving out of the 
question organic union — I consider the Northern Church 
orthodox to the extent that I am willing to enter into fra- 
ternal relations with that church whenever a basis is 
adopted proposing terms which are just on their part and 
honorable to ourselves. 

This was greeted with a sudden outburst of applause, 
which was promptly suppressed by the Moderator as against 
the rules of the Assembly. 

Mr. C: Would a majority of the council sanction the 
view that it was a mere confederation of committees ? 

Dr. Hoge: That subject has already been fully con- 
sidered. We cannot go back and discuss it again. 

Mr. C: I do not want to go back. 

Dr. Hoge: Then suppose you join us and go forward. 

In response to a question as to some doctrine held by one 
of the smaller continental churches Dr. Hoge rejoined : 

Moderator, I wish I knew everything. I could solve all 
doubts about the orthodoxy of continental creeds and con- 
fessions, if I were minutely acquainted with all the subtle 
metaphysical distinctions, and with all the theological con- 
troversies on abstruse points since the Reformation. 

Dr. Adger: If this Assembly sends delegates to the coun- 
cil, what guarantee have we that those churches will not 
violate their constitutions, and take actions which this 
church could not endorse? Has not moderatism been the 
bane of some of those churches, and while holding the same 
form of government, have they not been sliding into serious 
error ? Can we devolve our responsibility on other bodies, 
instead of being the guardians of the trust which has been 
committed to us, and which we are bound sacredly to 
guard ? 

Dr. Hoge: Moderator, of course we cannot transfer to 
anybody the responsibility which belongs to us, but have 
we not a guarantee in the character of the great churches 
which are represented in the Alliance that they will not 
betray the interests which are as dear to them as to our- 



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285 



selves? Have they nothing at stake? Have not the men 
who made Christ's crown and covenant their watchword 
regard for the honor of the Redeemer and the purity of the 
church ? Are they the men to dishonor their own traditions 
and to violate the constitutions of their own churches ? If 
we cannot trust them, whom can we trust? In the course 
of this debate we have been told by some that it is their 
design to make the Alliance a high court, a sort of spiritual 
star chamber : that they will begin by discussion and end 
by imposing their decisions upon us ; that these churches 
are full of latitudinarianism, broad-churchism, and ration- 
alism, and that we will be contaminated by association with 
them. Who are the men who cannot bear the test of the 
light of our purity? Is there no genuine Presbyterianism 
but ours? If the only pure Church is the Presbyterian 
Church of these Southern States ; if the problem of the 
development of Christianity as symbolized in the Presby- 
terian faith and form of government has been solved only 
by us ; if after all the great sacrifices of confessors and 
martyrs of past ages, we alone constitute the true Church ; 
if this only is the result of the stupendous sacrifice on Cal- 
vary, and the struggles of apostles and missionaries and 
reformers in all generations ; then may God have mercy 
on the world and on His Church. Moderator, when night 
casts its mantle over the earth, and one by one the constella- 
tions of heaven shine forth until the whole sky is illumined 
with their glory, how would it look for one star on the 
southern horizon to say, "I am the heavenly host?" When 
a fleet is drawn up for a naval engagement, and monitors, 
and seventy-fours, and iron-clads are ranged for action, 
how would it look for a single gunboat to proclaim, "I am 
the fleet?" 

Are we willing that some of the sentiments which have 
been expressed on this subject should go forth to the world 
as the voice of the General Assembly? In the name of 
what is due to our own character for justice and charity; 
for the sake of what is due to that article in the creed, so 
dear to us all, "I believe in the communion of saints;" by 
the regard we should cherish for the good name of God's 
venerable servants in those lands from which we derive 
our lineage and our religion ; I protest against such a mis- 
representation of the spirit of this Assembly. Brethren, 



286 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



allow us to make the experiment of association with other 
churches for consultation about the interests of Christ's 
kingdom, and then throw around us what guards and re- 
strictions you please. Allow our Church to come into line, 
and take her legitimate place in the great family-gathering 
of the Presbyterian Churches of the world. We have no 
wish for organic union with any other Church, but we do 
wish to be recognized, and to be conscious ourselves, that 
we belong to the great Presbyterian brotherhood. Per- 
mit our Church to take the position to which she has been 
so cordially invited. Let us see if we cannot cooperate 
with other branches of the Presbyterian family, and by con- 
ference and interchange of views advance the interests of 
our Redeemer's kingdom. Let us not be suspicious of 
other Churches of like faith and order with ourselves, but, 
taking the word and relying on the honor of God's min- 
isters and office-bearers in the eldership, let us see if we 
cannot help them by our cooperation, and be helped by 
them, as we plan and labor together in the unity of the 
Spirit and in the bonds of peace. 

After this outburst, lifting the whole question into the 
high, clear atmosphere of eternal truth, no man durst ask 
him any more questions. "What did I tell you?" said Dr. 
Girardeau. 

It was generally remarked that Dr. Hoge, who had been 
hitherto known as a great orator, on this occasion proved 
himself a great debater ; but it was far more than a personal 
triumph. It brought the Southern Church out of the exclu- 
siveness and isolation toward which it was tending, into 
living contact with world-wide interests. It has breathed a 
larger, freer air ever since. 

Dr. Hoge's next concern was to see that the Church was 
properly represented in the council. Of course, he was a 
delegate, and so was Dr. Robinson, and both would go ; but 
some who had been appointed could not go, and it was neces- 
sary to replace them with the best men possible. Then there 
were others who were willing to go, and who would add 
much to the weight of the delegation, who could not afford 



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287 



the whole expense. These matters were the subject of much 
correspondence between Dr. Hoge and Dr. Robinson; but 
before they were brought to a conclusion, another matter 
arose, of which he wrote : 

Knowing that I had to go to Europe in June, I de- 
termined to visit every family in my congregation before 
I sailed, and just as I commenced my systematic rounds, 
the lamentable defalcation in the Committee of Publication 
burst upon us like a water-spout in a Halcyon sea, and 
being chairman of the committee, I set myself at once to 
repair the disaster. I did not have a day, not an hour, to 
lose; but it has already cost me an entire month. I went 
to Atlanta, Macon, and Augusta, to raise money to meet 
the terrible loss ; and my presbytery, in spite of my remon- 
strances, insisted on my representing it and the Committee 
of Publication in the General Assembly, which meets on 
the 17th in New Orleans, and this will cost me two weeks 
more. I go next Monday, and when I return I will have 
barely time to pack my trunk and be off for New York, for 
my passage is engaged on the Scythia (of the Cunard 
Line), which sails on the 13th of June. This is a hard dis- 
pensation, for I wished to make some preparation for the 
Edinburgh Council, as I have to speak on the first day; 
but now I will have no time for preparation, and will suffer 
the disadvantage of making an extempore address ; but I 
have had no more control of my movements than if I had 
been an automaton. 

His efforts were successful in preventing any summary 
action by the Assembly in the affairs of the publishing house, 
and by patient and indefatigable efforts, running through 
many years, with the business-like management of the 
present secretary, this fine property was saved to the church. 

From the Assembly he wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

New Orleans, May 24, 1877. 

My Dear Sister : I have come to the desk of one of the 
clerks, while the Assembly is in session, to write you this 
line, liable to an interruption every moment. 

This is the land of summer most of the year, and of 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



almost perpetual flowers, but the brightest and most fra- 
grant was the one wafted by a northern breeze from New 
Brunswick. 

We are having a pleasant time socially. A few of the old 
families here still retain their wealth and former homes 
and style of living. I dined yesterday with one of them. 
As we went in to dinner, the old lady on my arm, in pass- 
ing the broad staircase there came floating down two young 
granddaughters all in white, looking like the angels who 
came down Jacob's golden ladder, to bless the men who 
waited for their coming below. 

The dinners have many courses here — in proper se- 
quence, with the proper vegetables served with each meat 
or bird, and a great variety of wines. Well, it is pleasant to 
sit by a good old lady at such a dinner (provided her tender 
granddaughter is on the other side) and take course after 
course, leisurely, with much conversation between, antici- 
pating the crowning cup of cafe now and cigar. 

But I like nearly as well to dine with a plain (clean) 
family, on black-eyed peas and jowl, and ash-cake for the 
last course ; but all this is extra-ecclesiastical, and for that 
reason to me all the more pleasant, for I am weary of the 
discussion of our Book of Church Order. 

I was very anxious to get off to-morrow morning and be 
as far on my way toward Richmond as possible before 
Sunday; but the subject in which I am most interested is 
not yet out of the hands of the committee, and cannot be 
acted on to-day. 

Several vacancies having occurred in the list of those 
appointed to the Edinburgh Council, it was necessary to 
make new nominations. I wanted Drs. Plumer, Irvine of 
Augusta, Brown and J. L. Wilson elected, and got each of 
them elected without nominating either of them myself, 
with the exception of Dr. Irvine. 

My life has taken a strange direction of late with so 
many unexpected duties thrust upon me, but I have tried 
to do the work of each day as it arose. 

Your account of your father's health and activity is most 
cheering. His presence with you is like a long, mellow 
radiance, making your own life calmer and fuller of sol- 
emn joy. 

I am writing you these incoherent lines, listening to the 



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289 



debate all the while, occasionally answering questions, be- 
cause I fear I may have no other opportunity as good as 
this even. The weather is warm here, though not oppres- 
sive, but no warmer than the affection of M. D. H. 

It was a noble delegation that finally went to represent 
the little Southern Church. Dr. Hoge was especially glad 
to have Dr. Brown for his weight in counsel, and Dr. Plumer 
for the majesty of his presence. These two, with Dr. Rob- 
inson and himself, were probably the most notable men in 
the delegation. There were in all twelve ministers and two 
ruling elders — one-half the representation to which the 
church was entitled. 

Dr. Robinson had the honor of presiding over the council 
the morning of the opening day, and Dr. Hoge spoke in the 
evening, Lord Moncrieff in the chair. The Daily Review 
said : 

Exceptional interest was excited by the appearance of the 
next speaker, Dr. Hoge, of Richmond, Va. He stepped 
upon the platform — a tall, spare, muscular man, of a mili- 
tary type of physique, and features bronzed by the blazing 
heat of a Southern sun. His manner at starting was almost 
painfully deliberate, and the cool self-restraint with which 
he surveyed his audience and measured his ground before 
he opened his lips deepened the interest which attended the 
beginning of his speech. Commencing with a graceful 
compliment to the chairman, admirable in its spirit and 
perfect in its manner, he dallied for a little with his subject 
in a lively and almost gay humor, and then, mingling pathos 
with humor with the happiest ease, he set forth, with dig- 
nity and breadth of view not inconsistent with great in- 
tensity and emotional excitement, the leading points of 
his many-sided subject — the simplicity and scriptural char- 
acter of Presbyterianism, its expansiveness and adaptation, 
and its friendly aspect to other churches. 

Moncure D. Conway, who himself had "made a clean 
sweep of all orthodoxy/' wrote of the council to some of the 
American papers : 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



There is one illusion often found in other churches which 
these three days are enough to dispel. We often hear it 
said that old-fashioned Calvinism is dying out, and election 
and reprobation no longer preached ; but, on the contrary, 
nearly every speaker maintained the extremest Calvinism. 
The most rigid views of Calvin were iterated with inten- 
sity ; and the more resolute their utterance by any speaker, 
the more hearty the applause. There, for instance, is Dr. 
Hoge, of Richmond, whose tall, dignified person, and dark, 
moody brow, as he entered, made me start as if Mazzini 
had come to life. The nervous twitching of the face, with 
the pale cast of thought, and study, too, so full upon it; 
the flame of the eye ranging from the dove to the eagle, the 
voice now aeolian, now thunder — why one could as easily 
mistake the physiognomy of a falcon. I remember once 
hearing John Daniel, sometime editor of the Richmond 
Examiner, who had made a clean sweep of all orthodoxy, 
say that somehow he did not like to hear Dr. Hoge, and I 
do not wonder, since I heard the same man last night, 
making a clean sweep of all the timidities and time- 
servings which would cut the roots of his faith and church. 
The same may be said of Dr. Eels, of California, a man 
personally of the same make and complexion. Every word 
he uttered was organic — came out of his bones ; and there 
is no compromise about him. "We will," said Dr. Hoge, 
"have no broad church in the sense of a Calvinistic creed 
with an Arminian clergy;" and his old Huguenot blood 
burned in his cheeks. "Craven temporizers, who dare not 
preach what is plainly written in God's word." The next 
moment he told of his old Bible which his forefathers car- 
ried to their refuge in Holland — "the family names in it are 
dim ; I hope they are bright in the book of life," and one 
felt what warmth it was that called up his storm. "Exalt 
God," cried the Californian ; "that is our answer to those 
who would exalt reason. Exalt law ! Grace is not sur- 
render of law. Pardon is not weakness prompted by love, 
but power, and rebels must first lay down their arms." 
But he, too, revealed the tender hand beneath the iron 
gauntlet, as he almost pleaded with the disbeliever for the 
spent swimmer, who has reached a rock among the waves, 
not to shove him off, because his rock is not a continent. 
The disbeliever might ask what of those who find no rock, 



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291 



for whom it is a question whether they can find any shore ; 
but he must be more a bigot than a skeptic who does not 
feel the superior grandeur of the exalted law than of the 
apotheosized sentimentality with which so many have tried 
to withstand Calvinism. 

Dr. Hoge received many social attentions and marks of 
honor during the council, and, by the appointment of the 
business committee, moved the Address to the Queen, which 
was seconded by Dr. Pressense. 

Of his travels that summer he wrote to his sister, Mrs. 
Marquess : 

Since the adjournment of the council, I have visited 
Lochs Lomond, Katrine and Long, going by way of the 
Trossachs ; then on to Aberdeen, Inverness, down the Cale- 
donian Canal to Oban ; thence to Staffa and Iona, and by 
the Kyles of Bute to Glasgow. On the way I accepted sev- 
eral invitations to visit gentlemen whose acquaintance I 
made in Edinburgh. Had I accepted all, I would not have 
got out of Scotland this summer. One of the most de- 
lightful of the little voyages I made was to Staffa and Iona 
from Oban. These islands are only accessible in moder- 
ately calm weather, as passengers have to be landed from 
the steamer in boats. It had been very stormy the day be- 
fore, so that nothing could land on these surf-beaten shores, 
but, though there was a dark cloud and a rainbow ("sailors 
take warning") at seven a. m v when we left Oban, the 
weather became fine, and I was almost in a rapture as I 
walked over the island home of the ancient Culdees of Iona, 
and heard the ocean thunder through the vast portal of 
Fingal's Cave in Staffa. I have been two days in London, 
and expect next week to go to Sweden, Norway, and Den- 
mark, returning by way of Berlin, Vienna and Paris to 
London. 

In London he had the opportunity of meeting his friend 
by correspondence, Mr. Beresford-Hope, and of renewing 
his acquaintance with Lord Shaftesbury, through whose 
courtesy he had two years before been elected a member of 
the Victoria Institute. 



292 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



The following summer he again went abroad — this time 
with Dr. Hunter McGuire, "who is taking me as his chap- 
lain, or I am taking him as my physician, just as people 
choose to have it. I hope we may both get good from the 
company of the other." Dr. Hoge was greatly delighted 
at the honors shown Dr. McGuire by the medical profession 
abroad, and Dr. McGuire seems to have been equally inter- 
ested in the impression made by Dr. Hoge's preaching, as 
appears from this note from the editor of the Homiletic 
Magazine (London) : 

Dear Dr. McGuire: I have to thank you for a very 
pleasant chat at dinner last evening. I hope some day to 
meet you again. 

You asked me one question to which I gave what might 
have seemed an off-hand answer. It was about Dr. Hoge's 
sermon. Let me say in all seriousness that it was a glori- 
ous soul-lifting sermon and produced an immense impres- 
sion. The power, pathos, pleading and spirituality of that 
address I have never heard surpassed. No notes, too ! No 
memorizing ! All free, direct, natural. You have reason to 
be proud of your preacher. He is our Spurgeon, Parker 
and Liddon in one. 

Pardon my enthusiastic way of writing. Possibly my 
admiration for the good Doctor's character makes me write 
in this strain. Bon voyage, 

Yours truly, Frfd. Hastings. 

On his return Dr. Hoge wrote to a friend : 

The old world was not so interesting to me the last time 
I saw it. I have become somewhat wearied with galleries, 
museums, and antiquities in architecture, and I find Euro- 
peans inferior to our own people in so many respects that 
I am more than ever contented with my own country. 

All we need is the continuance of a free and stable gov- 
ernment to make this the happiest country on the globe, and 
I trust that the kind providence which has preserved our 
liberties so long and the institutions which have made us 
prosperous, will still show us his favor. I find, however, 
that many thoughtful men look forward to a near future 
of strife and disintegration, which may Heaven avert ! 



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293 



Perhaps when he wrote this letter he had in mind a con- 
fidential communication from a United States senator, ask- 
ing to be put in immediate communication with General 
Joseph E. Johnston; that the Secretary of War was very 
anxious over the threatened labor troubles ; that should sev- 
eral States make requisitions, the available Federal force was 
very small, and little confidence was felt in the State militia 
for such emergencies. The idea was to call out the old Con- 
federates ! Happily there was no such need. 

In 1879 h e was appointed a delegate to the meeting of the 
Evangelical Alliance at Basle, but could not go, chiefly be- 
cause he had in reserve the fulfilling of a long-cherished 
desire to visit the lands of the East. His friends, Mr. and 
Mrs. T. William Pemberton, who were already abroad, had 
urged him to be their guest in travelling with them anywhere 
he might prefer. Early in 1880 he went, and after a short 
time in Italy, where he joined his friends, they sailed for 
Egypt to spend the month of March. April and a part of 
May were spent in Palestine and Syria, travelling with their 
own dragoman and camp. On the Phoenician coast Dr. Hoge 
nearly lost his life. The road led right into the Litany, and 
as there was no sign to a stranger that the river was higher 
than normal, he rode boldly in. In a moment his horse was 
swimming and unable to withstand the current that was 
sweeping out to the Mediterranean whose broad surface, 
with ships afloat upon it, was in full view. Dr. Hoge's fine 
horsemanship and cool head saved him. Not endeavoring 
to stem the current, he turned his horse's head obliquely 
towards the bank. He reached it at last, of course below the 
ford, and as the bank was steep, it was only after several 
efforts that his horse's hoofs took hold, and man and beast 
were saved. The joy of his friends, who had stood paralyzed 
on the shore unable to lend any aid to their beloved friend, 
can only be imagined. 

At the spot near Shechem where Joshua celebrated the 
dedication of the land in the two great natural amphitheatres 



294 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



that confront each other on the converging slopes of Mount 
Ebal and Mount Gerizim, Dr. Hoge, with the Rev. Harry 
Jones, rector of St. George's-in-the-East, London, tried an 
interesting experiment. Mr. Jones ascended Mount Ebal 
and Dr. Hoge Mount Gerizim, their friends remaining in 
the valley below ; Mr. Jones read a portion from the Prayer- 
book and Dr. Hoge repeated the twenty-third Psalm. Each 
heard the other, and the Richmond party in the valley de- 
clared they had never heard their pastor more distinctly in 
his own church : yet the amphitheatres at the back of which 
the ministers stood are of ample size to have held the whole 
congregation of Israel. 1 

From Palestine they went to Asia Minor, Constantinople 
and Greece, reaching London early in June. Physically Dr. 
Hoge was much exhausted by this trip, and spent the sum- 
mer quietly resting on the coast of Wales. Intellectually and 
spiritually it was the most stimulating voyage of his life. 
He has often said that he had never since preached a sermon 
without feeling its influence, though he might make no allu- 
sion to anything he had seen. And not only did he get good, 
but do good. He and his friends are held in cordial remem- 
brance by the missionaries along their route, and his ad- 
dresses to the students of the American College at Beirut and 
Robert College, Constantinople, are remembered to this day. 

Of course, Dr. Hoge was in much demand for college 
addresses in his own country, and, whenever he could com- 
mand the time, he was glad to seize these opportunities of 
impressing the choice young men of the land — the men who 
held the key to the future. The most important occasion of 
this kind during this decade was his centennial oration on 
the completion of the hundredth year of his own college 
(1876) ; but he greatly enjoyed a visit to the University of 

^n 1898 I completed the experiment, with Dr. John L. Campbell, of 
New York, and the Rev. R. E. Caldwell, of Winston, N. C, demon- 
strating that one speaking from the centre of the valley could be heard 
at the utmost verge of the amphitheatre. 



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295 



North Carolina, where he not only preached the baccalau- 
reate sermon, but at the last moment took the place of Mr. 
Thurman for the annual address; and he relished with 
boyish pleasure his reception at Due West, S. C, the seat of 
the Synodical Colleges of the Associate Reformed Church. 
When he stepped from the train he saw a disappointed com- 
mittee of students turn to each other and say, "He didn't 
come." "Perhaps I am the person you are looking for; I 
am Dr. Hoge." "You Dr. Hoge ? Why, we were expecting 
an old man!" 

During this time, and for a decade longer, he was also 
much sought after as a platform lecturer. He never accepted 
remuneration, and lectured only for benevolent and philan- 
thropic objects. He declined all but the most pressing calls, 
and finally had to stop altogether. As the line had to be 
drawn somewhere, he preferred to devote what time he had 
for extra service to the preaching of the gospel. His most 
noted lectures were "An Arabian Night's Parable," "Ich 
Dien," "Modern Chivalry," "The Land of the Midnight 
Sun," and "Tent Life in the East." 

The fertility of his fancy, the gaiety of his wit, his delight 
in roving through the fields of literature and personal remi- 
niscence, all came into play upon the platform, but in the 
pulpit he stood as an ambassador for Christ ; and while his 
preaching made a profound impression wherever he went, 
his best efforts were in his own pulpit, where the thought 
came hot from his heart; and its richness could only be 
appreciated by hearing him Sunday after Sunday. 

Probably his preaching never attained a higher plane than 
in the last three years of this decade, when the writer had 
this privilege. Certainly there was no ebbing of the tide for 
many years yet; but it is doubtful if the preaching of this 
time was ever surpassed. There are texts that can never be 
read to this day without ringing with the cadence of his 
voice, and there are thoughts that rise in the mind as from 
living fountains, with all the freshness of those happy days. 



296 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



While the standard of preaching was uniformly high, and 
the congregation uniformly full, there are some outstanding 
occasions when the preacher surpassed himself, and the con- 
gregations overflowed. 

Once the students of Richmond College asked him to 
preach from the text, "And there shall be no night there." 
They themselves made the brief announcement in the papers, 
and nothing more was said; but long before the hour of 
service the people began pouring in ; pews and galleries were 
packed ; seats were placed in the aisles and every available 
inch of floor was covered, and every possible seat was filled. 
As Dr. Hoge entered, he took in with one quick glance the 
audience, and one could see him rein himself back, as it were, 
like a blooded horse, and knew that he would equal the 
occasion. 

And that sermon who that heard it can forget ? How he 
brought out the charms of the night — the intercourse with 
friends; the communion with the great minds of the past; 
the quiet for reflection and introspection; the sweetness of 
rest; the refreshingness of change. Then the beauties of 
the night ! Now one heart in the congregation began to beat 
faster. The night before, at the supreme moment of an 
occultation of Venus, he had ventured to interrupt him at 
his study. He had given one quick glance, one expression 
of admiration, and returned to his work ; but here it comes ! 
"Who that looked forth last night, and saw the crescent 
moon, with the evening star just trembling on its silver horn, 
could wish to lose these ever-changing beauties in the pano- 
rama of the heavens ?" Why then should there be no night 
in heaven? How could heaven be complete, and lack those 
elements of joy and beauty that night contributes to our 
happiness here ? 

Then followed such an exposition of the glory of Christ, 
its sufficiency to satisfy every aspiration of the soul, and the 
tireless capacity of the soul to receive and enjoy, when freed 
from the limitations that make rest necessary to us here, as 



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297 



one does not often hear in a lifetime ; and the impression of 
which a lifetime is not sufficient to destroy. 

That afternoon he announced that the next Sunday after- 
noon he would preach — in response to repeated requests — on 
"The Moment after Death." The congregation was larger, 
if possible, than the previous evening. Charles Ghiselin was 
with us that day — now Dr. Ghiselin, but then a theological 
student — and thus recalls the impression of the time : 

The text was not taken from the Bible, but was found in 
the hymn that we sang before the sermon — 

' ' In vain the fancy strives to paint 
The moment after death." 

"The moment after death" — that was the theme, and he 
began by saying he would tell what he had not intended to 
reveal, how on the night before, at the dead hour of mid- 
night, he had come into the church and walked up and 
down before the pulpit, and thought of the many he had 
known and loved whose coffins had stood there, and as he 
thought of them, he prayed so earnestly that one of them 
might be permitted to come back — he knew not whether it 
was right, but if it was right — that the veil might be lifted 
for a moment, a hand might be stretched forth from the 
darkness, a voice might speak to him to tell him of what 
was after death. 

"Oh ! for the touch of a vanished hand, 
And the sound of a voice that is still." 

And he went on in matchless eloquence, picturing to us 
the scenes that burst upon the spirit of the Christian after 
death. It was all imagination ; but what does that mat- 
ter? Are not the gorgeous pictures of heaven, that the 
Bible gives, woven of the threads of truth and love by the 
chastened imagination of "the Holy Theologian ?" and who 
shall say that the sanctified imaginations of God's minis- 
ters, under the special illumination of the Spirit, does not 
give us true pictures of heaven to-day ? 

We cannot better close this chapter — a chapter illustrating 
the strength that comes after suffering — than by the account 
written by Dr. G. Watson James of a sermon of Dr. Hoge's 



298 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



in September, 1880, just after his return from the East; an 
account which Dr. Graham pronounced "a gem of pictorial 
description." 

Sunday evening, Airs. Rennie's farm-house, on the 
Brook Turnpike, was the scene of a gathering for public 
worship long to be remembered. The services were con- 
ducted by Dr. Hoge, assisted by Rev. Dr. Graham, of Lon- 
don. The congregation was composed of a large gathering 
from the neighboring countryside and a number of Dr. 
Hoge's congregation. The front porch of the farm-house, 
vine-embowered and shaded by two majestic trees, served 
as a pulpit, and was occupied by Dr. Hoge, Dr. Graham, 
and several of the older members of the congregation, 
while the main portion of the assembly were seated on 
chairs and rustic benches placed with picturesque irregu- 
larity among the rose bushes and shrubbery of the lawn. 
The services commenced a little after five o'clock with 
prayer and the singing of several familiar hymns ; and just 
as the shadows were lengthening and a dreamy gold-lit 
haze began to pervade the atmosphere, Dr. Hoge com- 
menced his sermon, taking his text from First Peter v. 10, 
"But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eter- 
nal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered 
a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle 
you." 

If Dr. Hoge rose with a prearranged discourse and de- 
tailed line of thought, he soon, it was easy to see, lost it in 
the suggestions of the surroundings. No man could preach 
such a sermon, except under the inspiration of the moment. 
It was a poem of consolation, its figures, its illustrations 
drawn from nature's ever-shifting panorama, the stanzas 
interlaced with a golden filament of gospel truths and the 
refrain of each, "after that ye have suffered a while," rising 
and falling like the sweet, sad cadence of an angel song. 
As the speaker painted picture after picture, carrying his 
hearers through the darkness to light, all nature seemed to 
break in echo — 

4 ' Via crucis, via lucis, 

For the righteous light is sown : 
E'en from suffering God educes 
Fruit by suffering cheaply won." 



Broader Fields. 



299 



In this picture the birds on the trees, here the flowers of 
the field, there the swaying boughs and sighing breeze, 
were made to interpret his meaning and enforce the con- 
soling thoughts of his discourse. A central idea — the the- 
matic chord that vibrated in every lesson — was that God 
needed martyrs as well as missionaries, the patient sufferer 
as well as the active worker. It was asked what a man 
could do stricken down on a bed of sickness. It had been 
his good fortune to hear some of the ablest divines in the 
great religious centres of the world ; but the most effective 
sermons he had ever heard were from the bed of sickness, 
from the death-bed. 

Once during the war, when there were eleven thousand 
wounded men in the city, he went through Seabrook's 
Hospital. A young soldier lay unconscious and dying. 
On one side of the cot knelt the mother, on the other the 
aged father. The mother was praying her boy to speak to 
her; but he died without a sign of recognition. The old 
man rose, and standing there, the central figure of that 
scene of suffering, clasped his hand and preached this ser- 
mon, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away." 
Here he paused and his aged form shook. Could he finish 
it? Yes. After a moment, with a louder and a firmer 
voice, he cried, "Blessed be the name of the Lord," and 
every soldier about there wept like a girl. Some one says 
to you that an acquaintance has lost a child. Well, it is only 
a little child — a little grave; but a child's grave is large 
enough to cast a shadow across the world, at least in the 
eyes of the bereaved mother. The mother's heart never 
emerges from these shadows. Here again he illustrated by 
implication the truth of that "after ye have suffered 
a while." There were doubtless, he said, mothers in the 
congregation who could look up to the blue vault above and 
see little hands beckoning them to come. When he (Dr. 
Hoge) was a young man and first read Longfellow's 
"Psalm of Life," he was charmed with it until he came to 
the last line, "Learn to labor and to wait." He said to 
himself, Did ever a man bring a poem to such a lame and 
impotent conclusion? Learn to wait? Who could not 
wait? He had since learned that the hardest thing in life 
to do was to wait. 

Dr. Hoge finished his discourse as the last rays of the 



300 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



setting sun were bathing the scene in a peaceful, mellow 
radiance ; and as the gloaming was merging into darkness, 
Dr. Graham brought the evening services to a close with 
a fervent, touching prayer. As we have said before, the 
scene was one that must long be remembered — must linger 
in the memory of every one present as a picture perhaps 
never to be witnessed again. Dr. Hoge's illustrations could 
not be reported. There was nothing that could afford him 
inspiration that was not seized upon, and when he closed, 
there was hardly a dry eye in the congregation. 



CHAPTER XII. 



In Labors More Abundant. 
1881 — 1890. 

'•Resolved, to live with all my might while I do live." — Jonathan 
Edwards. 



w failure of her health — Mrs. Brown had taken the keys 
of the house, a charge which she administered with her ac- 
customed thoroughness for a number of years, when she re- 
signed it to the faithful Scotch housekeeper, 1 who continued 
with the family as long as Dr. Hoge lived. Under her 
excellent management Dr. Hoge, like Joseph's master, 

1 The writer must be pardoned for a brief tribute to this good 
woman, whose arms were the first that held him in this world, and 
who saved his life in infancy at the peril of her own. Miss Lizzie Lind- 
say, afterwards Mrs. Drever, was one of the best of that class of 
Scotch domestics whose duty to their employers is regulated by con- 
science ; whose principles are based upon the Shorter Catechism and 
the Bible, and whose hours of recreation are occupied with such light 
literature as Home's Introduction or Chalmers' Sermons. In her daily 
life she showed a constant fidelity ; in great emergencies, the highest 
heroism and self-sacrifice. She was tossed by a cow, but saved the 
infant in her arms. She was wrecked at sea, losing all she had that 
she might save two children. My father used to say that she had expe- 
rienced everything except to be struck by lightning. Afterwards she 
experienced that. In her childhood and youth, after the morning 
"porridge " on Sunday, the family walked seven miles to church, often 
over the snow, took a cold lunch on the grounds between services, and 
walked home about dark to partake of tea and bread and butter, and 
spend the evening reciting the Catechism and reading divinity. In 
such a discipline was this stout fibre grown. 

" Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil 

Be blessed with health and peace and sweet content ; 
And oh ! may heaven their simple lives prevent 
From luxury's contagion weak and vile." 

Both in Dr. Hoge's family and in that of his brother, whom she had 
earlier served, she was regarded more as a friend than a servant. 




death of Mrs. Hoge — or rather, upon the 



302 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



^'knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did 
eat." 

To his second daughter, Mary, fell the care of Hampden, 
his youngest child. This care she continued after her mar- 
riage (December 7, 1870) to Mr. Marshall M. Gilliam, and 
when she had children of her own, he seemed but as her 
oldest child. She continued to reside with her father — at 
first for the sake of the child, afterwards for her father's 
sake, and her children added to the brightness of the family 
circle. Mr. Gilliam became an elder in Dr. Hoge's church, 
and by his personal devotion to him, the freedom of their 
intercourse in the same house, and the conscientious thor- 
oughness with which he discharged all duties, was an in- 
valuable associate in his work. 

Dr. Hoge's anxiety about the health of his oldest daughter 
has appeared more than once. In spite of great suffering, 
she kept up until after her mother's death, when she became 
a confirmed invalid — for many years entirely confined to her 
bed. It was the joy of the whole household and of many 
friends to make her room the most attractive spot in the 
house; and her own cheerfulness of spirit, her strength of 
will, repressing all signs of pain, and the charm of her con- 
versation made it the brightest spot. 

Here Dr. Hoge came at the close of his long day's work 
for rest and cheer. With her he talked over work done and 
plans for work to come. Her varied reading and her dis- 
criminating taste kept him abreast of the best literature ; and 
in the despairs that seized him when he was under pressure 
and could not find what he wanted, it was generally to her 
that he came for help in his extremity. 

Dr. and Mrs. Brown continued to live in Dr. Hoge's 
family until the sale of the Central Presbyterian in 1879, 
and their removal to Fredericksburg, where, before long, 
Mrs. Brown entered into rest. 1 Not long after they left, Dr. 

1 For a beautiful tribute to Mrs. Brown, see Dr. Hoge's address on 
liis fiftieth anniversary, Appendix, page 476. 



Ix Labors More Abundant. 



303 



George Harris — Uncle George., as the children called him — 
a dear friend and faithful elder, took his place at the table, 
which he kept until infirmity confined him to his room. It 
is not every minister that has a quorum of session at every 
meal. His son Moses was away much of the time, at college 
and professional schools in the later seventies and earlier 
eighties, but his nephew, Ernest Marquess, was a constant 
member of the family. His brother's children, who had 
lived with him for some years, had long been gone : Addison 
having become professor of Greek at Hampden-Sidney Col- 
lege m 1S72, and Elizabeth Lacy having been married to the 
Rev. "William Irvine, of Kentucky, in 1873. Such was the 
patriarchal household through these years of intensest labor. 

Dr. Hoge returned from the East just in time to see once 
more the honored friend of his youth. Dr. Plumer. Troubles 
had gathered about that hoarv head, and to Dr. Hoee he 
poured forth his heart as to none other. He had signed his 
name to what proved to be the last letter he ever wrote him, 
when — feeling that the tone of the letter was too sad for a 
trusting child of God — he added the postscript, "Hallelujah, 
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." His death severed 
for Dr. Hoge one of the strongest links that bound him to 
the past. 

And other links were to be severed soon. In December, 
1882, Judge Ould was taken. In his noble funeral discourse, 
Dr. Hoge said : 

I have known him as a student of theology, taking it up 
after his conversion as he would a new treatise on science 
or international law. and mastering it as few divines in the 
pulpit have done : known him as a student of polemics and 
Church government, coming to an unalterable conclusion as 
to the scriptural origin of the Creeds and Confessions of 
the Church of his choice : known him in the humble, but, in 
his own esteem, the honored office of superintendent of a 
mission Sunday-school in the suburbs of the city ; known 
him as the teacher of a Bible-class, for which he began to 
prepare his lectures on Monday morning lest the pressure 



304 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of professional duties should hinder him at the close of the 
week ; known him as an officer-bearer in the church, giving 
his pastor all the hearty cooperation, encouragement and 
support which a man of his clear judgment and generous 
nature was so capable of rendering; known him as a de- 
vout and regular attendant on all the services of the church 
on the Sabbath and during the week, in heat and cold, in 
sunshine and storm, even when failing health rendered such 
regular attendance difficult and hazardous ; known him as 
the friend of the poor and the generous contributor to all 
the enterprises of Christian benevolence ; known him as a 
member of ecclesiastical courts, always heard with defer- 
ence when he spoke because of his familiarity with ecclesi- 
astical law, and his fair, lucid and conciliating style of 
discussion ; known him as a friend congenial to my intellect 
and heart, loyal, true and loving ; known him as an appre- 
ciative hearer, never listening critically, captiously or 
distrustfully, but giving me his fullest sympathy and con- 
fidence, so that he was to me (none of you will misunder- 
stand what I mean), as it were, an audience in himself; 
and now that I shall no more see him coming with slow 
and measured step along that aisle, no more look upon his 
calm and placid face, full of light and loving-kindness, I 
feel that this church hereafter cannot be to me all that it 
has been since 1870. 

I hasten to the close. I was absent from the city when 
the mortal chill seized him. When I entered his chamber 
on my return and expressed my concern at finding him so 
ill, he smiled and quietly said, "You came near losing one 
of your elders last night." Little did I think, when I 
kneeled and commended him to God, that this was my last 
interview. The next morning I lost him — oh ! no, not that, 
if heaven found him, and if while walking with God, he 
was not, because God took him. 

A week or two afterwards Governor Randolph wrote Dr. 
Hoge for a copy of this discourse, and closed his letter : 

I am very busy just now, but not too much so to have 
you and yours in my most affectionate remembrance, and 
to hope to be able, these many and many times to come, to 
write to you and, as now, be of honest heart in saying I am 



In Labors More Abundant. 



305 



grateful to God for home and wife, and children and grand- 
child, and dear friends, and for faith and hope — "and yet 
more/' Affectionately yours, 

Theo. F. Randolph. 

It was his last letter to his friend. Shortly afterwards he 
was taken — "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" — to 
know more fully the meaning of those last words, "And yet 
more." 

Of this sorrow Dr. Hoge wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

You can well appreciate the great privation Bessie has 
suffered. During the last twelve years Governor Randolph 
paid us more than fifty visits, and not a fortnight ever 
passed without his sending her letters, magazines, flowers, 
or some reminder of his thoughtful and loving regard for 
her. Compelled as she is, by separation from all outward 
activities and enjoyments, to lead an interior life, the world 
of the affections is almost her only world, and whatever 
made that world richer to her was the most prized, and all 
that makes it poorer is most deplored. At first, she seemed 
to be overwhelmed by her sorrow, but submissive, trustful 
and brave as she is, she soon regained her self-control, and 
now suffers "and makes no sign." 

Near the same time he wrote to Mrs. Greenleaf, when she 
had a threat of breaking dow r n : 

I have already outlived so many of my early and dear 
friends that I am becoming more impressed with the pil- 
grimage aspect of life, though I cannot call myself a 
stranger, in the midst of the crowds who know me; but 
much of the brightness and sweetness of life has been 
carried away with those who have gone from me. I cling 
to those who remain, and would not willingly surrender 
them to anything but heaven. 

But eternity is so long that it can afford to spare for a 
great while those who are useful and needed here, and I 
hope I may count on the genial warmth of spring and the 
reviving glow of summer to reanimate and invigorate you, 
and restore you at least to the health of twenty years ago. 
I wish this for my sake, for your father's sake, for the sake 
of all who love you. 



306 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



At the very beginning of this decade he had written her : 

Richmond, January i, 1881. 
My Dear Sister: This is the first time I have written 
1881. 

I told Bessie last night that I meant to dedicate the day 
and year to you in that manner ; and I expect to associate 
you with all its coming history. There are a few persons 
with whom I am always doing this. 

I keep myself surrounded with an invisible, imaginary 
circle, with whom I keep up a mental communion. 

During my Eastern travel, especially while riding alone 
through Palestine and along the silent Phoenician shore 
(which Gibbon says once resounded with "the world's de- 
bate"), I often entertained myself with colloquies of that 
character. No matter what I hear or enjoy, I have fallen 
into the habit of saying to myself, how would this influence 
or that affect this and that friend, so that while I am in one 
sense always in the crowd, I am really living for (and 
with) a few persons, one of them being yourself. 

Before that decade was over, first her venerable father, 
and, a little after, she herself, had joined — 

' ' the choir invisible 
Of those immortal dead who live again 
In minds made better by their presence." 

Of this constantly growing multitude he wrote to his 
friend, Mr. Osborne: 

My Dear Mr. Osborne : I could not read your letter of 
March 16th or that which followed it without being deeply 
moved and gratified by every expression of your regard for 
me. 

Your last letter, especially, is so full of kind and gene- 
rous appreciation that I must preserve it among the 
treasures which are not to be misplaced or destroyed during 
my life-time. 

I was particularly impressed by your minute and interest- 
ing reminiscences of Dr. Plumer, going back to your child- 
hood, and imprinted on your memory, as in a photograph 
a noble oak is sometimes pictured so as to present not only 



In Labors More Abundant. 307 

the massive trunk and spreading branches, but the smallest 
twigs and leaves. 

Ah, the changes since you saw me with my young wife 
at Boyden's Hotel, and since Alexander Martin stood be- 
fore me with Miss Macon at his side! Changes in the 
domestic, social, political, and even religious, world, so 
great, so unlooked-for that I often feel as if I were living 
on another planet. My church is still crowded with hearers 
twice every Sunday, but I have two churches now, one on 
earth and one in heaven, and the members of the latter are 
now by far the most numerous. Could they be summoned 
back to earth, no building in the city would contain them. 

This Mr. Osborne was a remarkable instance of the singu- 
lar attachment of his friends. A voluntary exile from his 
own land and people, for years he kept even his European 
address a secret from all but Dr. Hoge. To him he confided 
all, and for him, when abroad, he would make any sacrifice 
to add to his pleasure or to the attainment of his objects. 

But this was to be a chapter of work, and while — 

" Friend after friend departs," 

liis mission was to — 

" Act, act in the living present." 

To attempt even to summarize the labors of this time 
would be to turn these pages into a mere catalogue, which, 
at best, would be incomplete. The period is characterized by 
the deepening and broadening of his work at home, and by 
the increased and multifarious demands for service abroad. 

The work of his own church went on like a steady stream, 
full and strong. It must not be supposed that its work was 
maintained merely by the power of his preaching. He 
neglected no proper means for strengthening his hold 
upon those whom his preaching attracted. Dr. F. C. 
Walker, U. S. A., writes of the remarkable hold he gained 
upon the medical students. He had attended his church 
but a few times, when, returning to his room from his 
classes, he found a deacon of Dr. Hoge's church awaiting 



3 o8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



him with a message of welcome from the pastor and a 
promise that he himself would call at the earliest opportu- 
nity. He said the effect on him was overwhelming: "The 
idea that Dr. Hoge, whose name was a synonym for great- 
ness, should come to see me seemed well-nigh incredible." 
Speaking of it to his fellow-students, he found that "every 
one who had attended the church had been waited on in like 
manner." 

Dr. Hoge was not a systematic pastor ; he was not syste- 
matic in anything ; but he more than made up for the lack 
of system by certain other qualities. First, he saw every- 
thing. A face did not appear in his congregation more than 
once or twice before he singled it out. Second, his visits to 
an individual, while necessarily infrequent, were effective. 
When he showed a courtesy, he did it in a way that made 
an impression. One might have been suffering from a feel- 
ing of neglect, when unexpectedly he paid some attention of 
so marked a character that one was almost dazzled by it; 
and never forgot it. He had a wonderful way of thinking 
of happy things to do that would require little extra time; 
as, when he had a distant visit to pay, he would drive by and 
pick up some overworked woman or anaemic girl, and give 
her a breath of fresh air while he discharged the other duty ; 
but the most important faculty of all was his ability to set 
others to work. He asked service of others in a way that 
made them feel it was a favor conferred. There were many 
who would be happier all the week if he asked them to do 
some errand — in itself, perhaps, disagreeable. There was 
no toil that some of his godly women shrank from if it would 
help on his work and win his approval. The members of the 
official boards of the church were punctilious in their fidelity 
to all that was expected of them. The Ladies' Benevolent 
Society was one of the most efficient and successful organiza- 
tions in any church, shouldering colossal undertakings and 
carrying them through with unwavering patience ; and in all 
the departments of the church, Sunday-school, children's 



In Labors More Abundant. 309 

societies and other agencies, the work was so organized that 
he had no responsibility for it, yet he was felt to be the in- 
spiration of the whole. 

But work that others could not do, he did with his whole 
heart. In affliction, and trouble of all kinds, he left nothing 
undone that could soothe, or help, or sustain ; and, doubtless, 
much of the tenderness of his preaching was gained in that 
sympathetic personal contact with souls in trouble. In no- 
thing was his ministry more blessed than as a ministry of 
comfort. 

Yet he did not hesitate to perform those unpleasant duties 
that fall to a minister's lot — of which the following letter 
is an illustration : 

My Dear Sir : I think I ought to know, from yourself, 
whether you have any definite plan or purpose with regard 
to your connection with our church. 

The matter has now drifted along several years without 
seeming to come to any definite conclusion, and you are 
aware that there is a solemn obligation resting on every 
member to attend the meetings and sacraments of the 
church to which he belongs, and that the neglect to do so 
cannot be perpetually overlooked. 

I am not aware that I have failed to discharge the duties 
I owe to you and to your household, but I would be an un- 
faithful pastor if I did not call your attention to the possible 
injury you are doing to yourself and to your family by 
your neglect of church ordinances. 

I have the very highest appreciation of Mrs. , and 

feel a deep interest in the future of your children. 

I cannot but think that you would add to Jier happiness 
were you to come with her to the house of God, which she 
loves so much. 

Life is short and uncertain, and were you to survive her, 
I am sure you would be filled with bitter regrets at having 
withheld from her one of the comforts which I think she 
would dearly prize — that of your presence and union with 
her in the worship of God. 

I know, too, that your course will be injurious to the 
spiritual interests of your children. You cannot expect 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



them to be regular, or to form a deep attachment to the 
church of which you are a member, but which you do not 
attend. 

It is my duty to ask you to give this subject a new and 
prayerful consideration, as in the sight of God and with 
reference to the account you are finally to render to him. 

I do not write this letter in a spirit of unkindness or 
rebuke, but with a sincere regard for your happiness and 
usefulness. Yours faithfully, 

Moses D. Hoge. 

Sometimes he wrote a pastoral letter to the whole congre- 
gation to awaken them to a sense of individual responsibility, 
and to keep them informed as to the welfare and work of the 
church. 

Another beautiful custom, for the deepening of this 
sense of responsibility, was the selection of a motto text for 
each year, which would be the subject of his New Year's 
sermon. He speaks of this in one of his letters : 

I wish you could have been with us yesterday. On the 
first Sunday of each year I take a text which I propose as 
a motto for the people that year. Last year it was, "Let us 
not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, 
if we faint not." 

Yesterday it was Joshua's resolution, "As for me and 
my house we will serve the Lord," giving me an opportu- 
nity of delivering a discourse on family religion. I was 
glad to have a day so bright and balmy, and to have two 
grand congregations to begin the year with. 

There was scarcely a communion season in which there 
were not some to come forward and confess Christ under 
his preaching; but there were times w T hen the solemn hush 
or the audible weeping would show that eternal things were 
taking a deeper hold than usual upon the heart. At such 
times he would direct his appeal more searchingly to the 
impenitent, the doubting, and the fearful; he would name 
times for personal conversation with himself; he would 
put parents and friends and Sabbath-school teachers on the 



In Labors More Abundant. 



watch for evidences of tenderness on spiritual subjects; he 
would seek out those that were touched — 

" With some clear, winning word of love ; " 

or, if he thought best, would hold some special services for 
prayer, awakening, or instruction. At such seasons often 
the whole of the ample space before the pulpit would be 
filled with those standing up to take the vows of God upon 
them. 

In this work he rarely sought help. When he did, it was 
from some trusted personal friend to preach a special ser- 
mon. In answer to an offer of professional assistance, he 
wrote : 

Reverend and Dear Sir : I have received your fraternal 
letter of the 2d instant, and would say in reply that I do not 
think the way will be open for such meetings as you pro- 
pose to hold in Richmond. 

The city is well supplied with pastors and efficient lay- 
men, well acquainted with the field, and ready for any 
active service. 

There are many regions in the South, as well as in every 
part of the country, where the labors of self-denying evan- 
gelists might well be bestowed. 

I have been the pastor of the church to which I minister 
ever since its organization, and I have never deemed it 
expedient to resort to extraneous aid, but have preferred 
to rely on the regular services of the Sabbath, with such 
meetings during the week as seemed at the time to be de- 
sirable. These meetings I have usually conducted myself. 
Very truly yours, Moses D. Hoge. 

But while this strong work was sustained at the centre, 
his church was throwing out branches to the right hand and 
tne left. 

For many years the church had sustained a mission in the 
western end of the city. Dr. Hoge thus described its origin : 

The most difficult labor of my life was in the first move- 
ment for sending out a colony in the west end of the city. 



312 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



It began with the gathering of a Sunday-school, of which 
the late Judge Ould was superintendent, and in holding a 
night service in a gloomy building called Elba, which 
stood in an old field, and which was difficult of approach. 
A good name for it would have been Bleak House. During 
the winter we labored there, the weather was fearful. I 
frequently said to my family on returning from the mission 
that there was consolation in the knowledge that the next 
time I had to visit the place there could not be as bad a 
storm; but when the next night came the weather would 
be worse than ever. One night, as I was driving through 
the storm, I was caught in a deep snow-drift, and had to 
be extricated by the help of a passing colored man. 

There was a class in the Sunday-school composed of the 
worst boys I ever saw. Paul says he fought with beasts at 
Ephesus. I think I would rather have met the enemies 
Paul encountered than these boys. Yet, by infinite pa- 
tience, we conquered, and the class, instead of consuming 
the time in yelling at one another, fighting among them- 
selves, and running in and out, became quiet, orderly and 
attentive. 

In due time the mission was housed in a neat brick chapel, 
costing about five thousand dollars, half of which was the 
gift of Mr. James McDowell. There the Sunday-school 
flourished for a number of years under the active leadership 
of the young people of Dr. Hoge's church. 

In the spring of 1882 the session invited Dr. Hoge's 
nephew, Peyton H. Hoge, who had just graduated from 
Union Seminary, to take charge of the work. In June a 
church was organized, which called Mr. Hoge to be its 
pastor. In October he was ordained, Dr. Hoge both preach- 
ing the ordination sermon and delivering the charge to the 
pastor. In every way the occasion moved Dr. Hoge's 
deepest emotions. It recalled his own ordination as the 
pastor of a new church in the same city ; it fulfilled his long- 
cherished desire to be the founder of two churches in Rich- 
mond : "With my staff I crossed over this Jordan, and now I 
am become two bands !" More than all, the memory of his 



In Labors More Abundant. 313 



brother filled his heart. Perhaps not more than all : perhaps 
the vision of his own earnest-faced boy came before him, of 
whom he had written his brother, "May we not one day see 
your Peyton and my Lacy sit in the pulpit together, as you 
and I have done?" Under the influence of all these mem- 
ories and aspirations — fulfilled and unfulfilled — he rose to 
his greatest power, preaching one of the noblest sermons of 
his life on the work of the gospel preacher, and delivering 
one of the most solemn and tender charges a young minister 
ever received. 

The church grew, but not according to expectations. The 
removal of the First Church to its vicinity retarded its 
growth, and in course of time, under the ministry of Rev. 
J. C. Stewart, it was found necessary to remove it from 
Grace street to Park avenue. The congregation is still not 
large, but it is one of the best organized and most active 
churches in the city. It was at first called the Fourth Pres- 
byterian Church, but after its removal, the Church of the 
Covenant. 

His next effort in church extension met with more im- 
mediate success. In January, 1885, Mr. D. L. Moody held 
a ten-days' meeting in the Armory Hall. Dr. Hoge gave 
his hearty cooperation, making a broad distinction between 
a man evidently marked of God to do a special work like this, 
and the multitudes of imitators who, without special quali- 
fication, thrust themselves in to build on other men's founda- 
tions and to reap where others had sown. God's power and 
presence were shown mightily, and great throngs attended — 
many from the classes that never entered a church. The last 
night was a meeting for men only — women being excluded 
only that the men, who could not come in the day, might 
have a chance. The hall was packed. Dr. Hoge was not 
present ; it was the night of his prayer-meeting ; but he sent 
a notice that on the following Sunday he would preach 
at night in the Old Market Hall. Mr. Moody read the 
notice, with a word or two of thankfulness that such a 



3H 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



work was to be undertaken, and of prayer for God's blessing 
upon it. 

Dr. Hoge had long contemplated such a step, but he saw 
that this was the time to strike. He wrote a note to the 
Mayor, asking the use of the hall, and on securing it sent the 
notice. Between W ednesday and Sunday an army of scrub- 
bers and carpenters had to get the hall into condition, for it 
had long been unused ; a choir had to be organized and va- 
rious assistants gotten together. Sunday night came and the 
hall was filled ; it held over a thousand. In a Sunday or two 
more a Sunday-school was organized and faithful fellow- 
workers, from his own and other churches, labored with him 
through summer's heat and winter's cold. Before the first 
spring was over the Chief of Police and the neighboring 
police justices pronounced this mission of more value for 
keeping order in that part of the city than all the police force. 
Year after year he kept up this work, preaching in his church 
morning and afternoon, and at the Old Market at night. 
His sermons there were wholly different from those preached 
in his church, and as carefully prepared. They were taken 
down and published each week in the city papers. He was 
urged to publish them in a volume, but he never found the 
time to give them the necessary revision. Even yet the "Old 
Market Pulpit" would make a most valuable volume of 
practical sermons. 

In time a pastor was needed for the congregation that was 
gathered. The Rev. L. B. Turnbull, now of Durham, N. C, 
was for a number of years their indefatigable and successful 
minister, and has been succeeded by their present devoted 
pastor, the Rev. James E. Cook, who grew up in Dr. Hoge's 
church. 

The Old Market Hall is still used on Sunday evenings for 
preaching to "them that are without," but the congregation 
has a very attractive and suitable house of worship, that was 
dedicated by Dr. Hoge twelve years after he began the work. 
In his dedication sermon he said, "The humblest spire that 



In Labors More Abundant. 



points to heaven suggests more than all the monuments 
reared to earthly fame and glory." Next to his own church, 
it is his best monument. It was named even in his life-time 
the Hoge Memorial. 

The fame of this work went far, for it was a unique ex- 
periment in the problem of city evangelization. It was 
doubtless on this account that the subject of city evangeliza- 
tion was assigned him at the Presbyterian centennial ; and in 
that great throng from all parts of the country, the moment 
he had begun the sentence, "The best plan that I know is for 
some city pastor — " the applause from all parts of the house 
drowned the rest. 

While engrossed in these arduous labors at home, Dr. 
Hoge's voice and pen were busied in various labors else- 
where. The congregation could afford to be generous in 
giving him up for service abroad since they were now sat- 
isfied that he would remain with them for life. Their last 
agony of suspense had been toward the close of the last 
decade, when he had received an urgent and persistent call 
from the Second Church, Philadelphia. 1 

On July 2, 1 88 1, the assassination of President Garfield 
sent a thrill of horror through the country. At a popular 
meeting held in Richmond, Dr. Hoge made the remarkable 
address that is printed in the Appendix. It was probably 
some knowledge of this address that led the Fifth Avenue 
Church in New York to seek his services, in the absence of 
Dr. Hall, on the Day of Humiliation and Prayer appointed 
by President Arthur. His sermon is thus described in one 
of the city papers : 

It was no doubt owing to the little notoriety given to the 
fact that the Rev. Moses D. Hoge, of Richmond, Va., was 
to officiate in the memorial services last Monday that no 
report of his remarkable discourse was given in the morn- 

J The correspondence was conducted by Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, his 
beloved and devoted friend, to whose skilful surgery he was afterwards- 
indebted for the partial restoration of his daughter's health. 



3i6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



ing papers. As is well known, Dr. Hoge is the leading 
clergyman of the Presbyterian Church, South. His fervid 
eloquence and powerful influence stood the defunct Con- 
federacy in good stead in many a dark day of its troubled 
history. It was a bold move, therefore, for the great, 
wealthy and conservative congregation presided over by 
Dr. John Hall to invite him to lead them in their memorial 
services for the dead President. An immense congregation 
was gathered, the beautiful church was heavily draped, 
and after a solemn voluntary on the noble organ, Dr. Hoge 
came forward to the front of the platform. His very mien 
attracts attention anywhere. Standing for a moment silent, 
he began his remarkable discourse with the following 
words : "I suppose there is not a single person in this great 
assembly who has not been called to watch at the bedside 
of one very ill and very dear to the watcher. I will not 
attempt to describe what the feelings are on such an occa- 
sion ; but here we have the whole country, from New York 
to San Francisco, and from the Gulf to Canada, watching 
at the bedside of a single individual with feelings of grief 
too deep for utterance." And from this the speaker entered 
upon an oration, which, for ability, eloquence and pathos, 
has seldom been equalled in this city. It was our President, 
our friend ; and when he spoke of the grief of the "solid 
South," "not the solid South of the politicians," but the 
deep grief of the whole people of that section, the effect 
was marvellous. It is to be hoped this grand discourse will 
be published by the church in which it was spoken. 

It was never published as a whole, but the concluding 
paragraphs were written out for one of the religious papers : 

Our present sorrow shows how God, in his providence, 
can arrest the attention of the world, and make the heart 
of humanity tender, and so cause all to feel the dependence 
of man upon man, of State upon State, and nation upon 
nation. The news of the attempt of the assassin was 
flashed over the world ; and then across all continents, and 
under all seas came electric messages of sympathy and 
condolence — China and Japan uniting with the states of 
Europe ; paganism and Mohammedanism joining with all 
Christendom in the expression of a common sorrow. Thus 



In Labors More Abundant. 



317 



God makes the very wounds of humanity the fountains 
from which issue the tenderest sympathies and the sweetest 
charities which bring comfort to the suffering, and which, 
at the same time, make the whole world akin in the con- 
sciousness of common interests and interdependence. 

More practically important to us is the fact that the great 
bereavement we commemorate to-day has hushed the voice 
of party clamor, and at once rebuked and silenced the 
discord of sectional animosity. 

Death is the great reconciler. A Federal officer was 
mortally wounded on one of the battle-fields of Virginia. 
As he lay upon the ground, far from his comrades, con- 
scious that his end was near, while scattered soldiers of the 
Confederate army went swiftly by, he called to an infantry- 
man who was passing the spot, and asked him if he would 
offer a prayer for him. The man replied, "My friend, I 
am sorry I cannot comply with your request. I have never 
learned to pray for myself ;" but he did what he could ; 
he moved the officer into the shade, put something under 
his head, gave him some water out of his canteen, and then 
hurried on. Presently a dismounted cavalryman, who had 
lost his horse, came by. The officer called to him and made 
the same request, "Won't you stop and say a prayer for 
me ?" The trooper kneeled down at the side of the dying 
man and commenced a prayer, but as he uttered one tender 
petition after another, the officer used the little strength 
that remained to him in creeping closer and closer, until he 
placed both arms around the neck of the petitioner, and 
when the last words of the prayer were uttered, he was 
lying dead on the bosom of his late antagonist in battle, but 
in the parting hour one with him in the bonds of the gospel, 
a brother in Christ Jesus — united in love forever. 

Yes, death is the great reconciler. 

I am here to-day, because, while making a brief visit to a 
friend in an adjoining State, taking the only rest I have had 
for a year, an invitation came from the officers of this 
church urging me to perform this sad office in the absence 
of its honored pastor; and I stand here to represent the 
feelings of the Southern people, whose interests and whose 
sentiments are mine, and to say that to-day your sorrow is 
their sorrow, and your bereavement theirs. To-day Rich- 
mond and Augusta, and Charleston and Savannah, and 



3i8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Mobile and New Orleans, unite with Boston, New York, 
Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Chicago, in laying their im- 
mortelles on the tomb of the dead President. To-day there 
is a "solid South," not in the low and unfriendly sense in 
which demagogues use the phrase, but in the nobler sense 
of a South consolidated by a common sorrow; and one 
with you in the determination to advance the prosperity, 
the happiness and the glory of the Union, and that, too, 
without the surrender of one just political principle hon- 
estly held by them. This is the day for the inauguration of 
a new era of harmony and true unity. The great calamity 
will thus be overruled to the good of the whole land. 

The providences of God sometimes wear a frowning 
.aspect as they approach, and men's hearts grow faint with 
foreboding; but as the providence, which looked like a 
demon of darkness as it drew near, is passing away, it turns 
and looks back upon us with a face sweet and bright as the 
face of an angel of God. So now the angel of death seems 
to menace the land over which he is casting his dark 
shadow, but lo ! as we look, we see him transfigured. It is 
an angel of love, dropping peace and good-will upon the 
world. 

No matter what the occasion or the audience, Dr. Hoge 
never omitted an opportunity of putting in a word for his 
beloved South. How deftly it is done here — the audience 
receiving on the current of another thought, sympathetically, 
and almost unconsciously, the idea of the Southern soldier 
as kind, humane, Christian. Yet the sentiments of unity 
were just as real; he sounded the same note in Richmond 
as in New York. 

In 1884 Dr. Hoge went abroad to travel with his oldest 
son, who had been pursuing his professional studies for two 
years in Berlin. He also paid a number of delightful visits 
to country places in England, visiting relatives of friends 
and members of his church. While travelling on the Conti- 
nent, he looked in on the Evangelical Alliance, then holding 
its sessions in Copenhagen. He was not a delegate, but had 
attended several times, when one night, missing his way, he 



In Labors More Abundant. 



3i9 



entered by a door that opened directly upon the platform. 
He was at once accosted by Dr. Schaff, who told him that 
he had been looking for him anxiously, as he had put him on 
the programme for the evening to fill a vacancy, and that 
he would come on in fifteen minutes. He replied that it was 
preposterous to ask a man to address such an audience with- 
out preparation, but Dr. Schaff would take no denial. The 
subject was Family Religion, and the address (which is 
given in the Appendix) was not only a gem of graceful 
speech, but, what is of far more importance, it reached the 
heart. The Crown Princess, who was present, was deeply 
affected by his remark, "If there is but one pious person in 
the family, let that one be the mother." The next day she 
sent for him, and took counsel with him concerning the re- 
ligious training of her children. 

At the conclusion of the address some one said to Dr. 
Schaff, "That was a very successful experiment, but a very 
hazardous one." £ T knew my man," said Dr. Schaff. 

The period was the era of centennial celebrations, and Dr. 
Hoge had his full share of such addresses : The centennial of 
Washington and Lee University, at which he delivered the 
Historical Address; of Winchester Presbytery, which had 
been organized in the church founded by his grandfather in 
Shepherdstown, where the celebration was held, and where 
he preached the memorial sermon ; of the Synod of Virginia, 
at the organization of which his grandfather preached the 
opening sermon, and he the centennial discourse ; the Pres- 
byterian centennial in Philadelphia, and the centennial of 
Presbyterianism in Kentucky, at each of which" he delivered 
addresses. 

For all such occasions he always made original prepara- 
tion ; hence the timeliness and fitness of all his performances. 
Nearly all of these addresses were published, and would 
make quite a volume if collected. His discourse at Wash- 
ington and Lee gives a good idea of his work upon such an 
occasion, and as it was rewarded with the degree of LL. D. 



320 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



from the university, a brief report, published in the press at 
the time, will not be without interest : 

Dr. Hoge announced as his subject "The Memories, 
Hopes and Duties of the Hour," and after a graceful pre- 
face, he stated clearly the two methods of history — "one a 
chronicle of famous men who have ruled their fellows by 
force, or by ideas, or by ethical systems ; a record of battles 
and sieges, a portraiture of the rise and fall of kingdoms 
and confederacies, an account of great charters and declara- 
tions of rights, of political coalitions and ecclesiastical 
organizations" — in a word, the history of events ; the other 
department of history, and the nobler department — that 
which deals with "the causes which have led to the events." 
The latter method "traces the development of principles 
from their most germinal beginnings until they find expres- 
sions in free constitutions." . . . "It reveals the founda- 
tions on which strong and just governments are based, and 
the influences which determine the decline and fall of such 
as are not fitted to survive." 

It was the philosophy of history — the causes which 
developed events — that Dr. Hoge discussed, and in connec- 
tion, of course, with the character of the people who inhabit 
the Rockbridge section, and in connection more especially 
with the educational trend of Washington and Lee Uni- 
versity. In order to account for an institution like Wash- 
ington and Lee, the speaker showed how important it was 
to go far back into the past and "ascertain the influences 
which developed its growth from a primary school to a 
university." The three great influences, he claimed, which 
develop governments are to be found, first, in the word of 
God, "from which the true ideal of representative govern- 
ment is derived;" second, in the reformation of the six- 
teenth century; and third, so far as our government is 
concerned, in "the peculiar training received by the emi- 
grants to these shores and by the patriotic sages who were 
most influential in shaping our Constitution ;" and before 
beginning a splendid review of the civilization and the his- 
tory of the literature and political movements of the seven- 
teenth century — the century of Jamestown and of Plymouth 
Rock — Dr. Hoge said : 

" In our country the spirit which animated the colonies 



In Labors More Abundant. 321 



in their struggle for independence, and which led to the 
adoption of a republican form of government, was identical 
with that which founded and fostered our older schools 
of learning, and could I establish this position, I would 
succeed in laying before you what your invitation dignifies 
with the title of an historic address." 

Dr. Hoge took a deep interest in all that concerned the 
preservation of American history. He was an original 
member of the Southern Historical Society, and helped to 
organize the Presbyterian Historical Society, of which he 
was one of the vice-presidents. He contributed to the 
SchafT-Herzog Encyclopedia the articles on Dr. Plumer, Dr. 
Thornwell, and the Southern Presbyterian Church. He was 
a member of the committee that made the arrangements and 
prepared the programme for the Presbyterian centennial, 
and was appointed by the Assembly one of the speakers. 
Who can forget his reference to the presence of the Chief 
Magistrate of the nation, "and by his side, his chief magis- 
trate, and our Republican Queen, who rules our hearts with 
as absolute a sway as the Queen of Great Britain — with the 
advantage of being fifty or sixty years younger." 

But Dr. Hoge had more important work in hand just now 
than the commemoration of the past — the future had to be 
formed as well. The Assembly of 1887, after a great debate 
on the subject of organic union with the Northern church, 
appointed a "committee of inquiry," to meet a committee 
from that church and ascertain how far the obstacles to 
union, whether organic or cooperative, had been removed. 
Dr. Hoge was named first on this committee, after the 
Moderator, who was ex officio chairman. 

The committee met in Louisville, and after informal and 
fraternal joint discussion, proposed certain questions to the 
other committee: (1) As to the existing attitude of their 
church on political deliverances by ecclesiastical courts. (2) 
The policy to be pursued in the event of union with regard 
to the organization of the colored churches. (3) The degree 



322 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of responsibility of the boards of the church to the Assembly, 
and (4) The soundness of the body in the Calvinistic 
doctrine since the reunion of the Old and New School 
bodies. 

The Northern committee met again in Baltimore to 
formulate its reply to these inquiries, and the Southern com- 
mittee submitted both questions and answers to the Assembly 
of 1888 without recommendation. That Assembly decided 
that, while the obstacles to organic union were not removed, 
there was both room and reason for a much closer coopera- 
tion between the two churches, and Dr. Hoge was appointed 
chairman of a committee to confer with a similar committee 
from the other Assembly on plans for cooperative union. 
The joint committees met first in New York, and after sev- 
eral days' conference placed the different topics that had 
emerged in the discussion in the hands of sub-committees, 
which were to report at a subsequent meeting in Atlanta. It 
was found that in foreign missions there was already hearty 
cooperation, it being the policy of both churches to unite 
with all other Presbyterian bodies in building up one Pres- 
byterian Church in each country in which they labored. In 
publication there was also in operation a practical coopera- 
tion between the business department of the Northern board 
snd the Southern committee. 

In home missions recommendations were adopted looking 
to the removal of friction, and the creation of a more cordial 
feeling. 

It was recommended (1) that mission funds should be 
expended as far as possible in different fields to avoid hurtful 
rivalry; (2) that weak churches of either Assembly might 
be grouped with those of the other, and consolidated, if possi- 
ble, by mutual agreement, with such presbyterial connection 
as might be most agreeable; (3) that persons removing 
from one Assembly to another should unite with the churches 
of the other, or, if in sufficient numbers to organize a new 
church, should form such organization under the care of the 



In Labors More Abundant. 323 

presbytery with which the contiguous churches are con- 
nected; and (4) that where large bodies of both Assemblies 
occupied the same ground they should cultivate the closest 
fraternal relations. 

Doubtless, neither party has fully lived up to their agree- 
ment, though with the best intentions of so doing; but it 
was much to have the standard fixed and both parties com- 
mitted to the principle. 

The crux of the situation, however, was in the relation of 
the two churches to the evangelization of the colored people. 
The Southern committee was anxious to consolidate the 
work of the two churches, both Assemblies laboring to build 
up one colored Presbyterian church in the United States, as 
they unite to build up one church in Japan or Brazil. This 
view is embodied in the following paper found in Dr. Hoge's 
handwriting, hastily pencilled in Atlanta : 

Among the subjects demanding attention by the com- 
mittees of the General Assemblies, North and South, now 
in session in the city of Atlanta, there is none invested with 
graver embarrassments, or which awakens deeper solici- 
tude than the ecclesiastical relations under which the col- 
ored people of our land may attain to the best development 
of Christian life, and be prepared for the maintenance of 
self-supporting efficient church organizations in the future. 

Whatever differences of opinion may prevail on other 
points, happily all good men agree in the earnest wish to 
hring the colored population to a saving knowledge of the 
truth. To see them truly converted, and so to train them 
that their highest spiritual interests may be secured, is the 
one paramount wish and aim of all who appreciate the 
blessings of salvation for themselves, and who have at heart 
the extension of Christ's kingdom in the world. 

Many of the colored people are now members of our 
respective churches, and as such are now receiving our 
fostering care and require our unremitting efforts to in- 
struct them, not only in the fundamental elements of 
Christian faith, but in the practical duties of church life, 
that, grounded in the truth and guarded from the dangers 
■of a more emotional religion, and from the superstition and 



324 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



fanaticism to which impressible natures are especially 
liable, they may become intelligent, consistent and faithful 
followers of Christ. 

While they continue under our care, they are entitled to 
all the watchful guardianship and instruction we can give 
them, and when they withdraw from ecclesiastical connec- 
tion with us, our responsibility does not cease as long as 
we can aid them by our counsel and pecuniary contribu- 
tions, or in any way promote their spiritual edification. 

As divine providence gives us light, we learn our duty 
to this people. We cannot fail to recognize the disposition 
they exhibit to withdraw from the religious teachings and 
ecclesiastical control of the white race. From the denomi- 
nations which contain the overwhelming majority of those 
of them who are professors of religion, they have already 
separated themselves, and the tendency is equally manifest 
in the denominations with which a smaller number of them 
are connected. 

It is the common opinion of those who have most care- 
fully watched their course and acquainted themselves with 
their preferences, that in the near future they will all, with 
few exceptions, prefer a separate and independent ecclesi- 
astical organization. 

This result is in harmony with what is taking place in 
our missionary field, in which native converts are organ- 
ized into distinct churches that they may learn self-reliance 
and, by their own experience in ecclesiastical affairs, be 
trained to efficient church life. 

When this consummation is attained by the colored 
churches of our land, we secure the same advantage for 
them, and at the same time avoid the complications which 
must be disturbing elements while they retain their eccle- 
siastical connection with us. 

Contemplating this separation as the issue which will be 
best for both races, the two General Assemblies may agree 
to cooperate in organizing them into a separate Presbyte- 
rian Church. To this end all the churches, presbyteries 
and synods should be set off as fast as providence may open 
the way, from the bodies with which they are now con- 
nected, under one General Assembly, with such boundaries 
as may be most convenient ; to be governed by the general 
rules and principles common to the two Assemblies, with 



In Labors More Abundant. 325 

such modification of details as may be adopted by the 
new Assembly. We can cooperate in giving such gen- 
eral aid, material and spiritual, to the new organiza- 
tion, under regulations which may hereafter be deter- 
mined, in the prosecution of the work of colored evan- 
gelization, by maintaining the most friendly relations with 
it, and keeping ourselves duly informed of its needs, and 
supplying them in whatever methods may be deemed most 
expedient. 

As the Northern committee held out for the organic con- 
nection of the colored churches with their Assembly, the 
joint committee adopted the preamble of Dr. Hoge's paper, 
reported the fundamental difference, and recommended the 
maintenance of the status quo, with the most cordial sym- 
pathy of each in the work of the other. There are many in 
the Southern church who would have turned the whole mat- 
ter over to the Northern Assembly, rather than build up two 
sets of colored synods and presbyteries in the South, had 
they not feared that their churches would lose interest with 
the loss of responsibility. 

Of the London Council of the Presbyterian Alliance, 
which he attended that year, Dr. Hoge wrote entertainingly 
(July 11, 1888) : 

It is like telling one's dream, but it is a waking reality 
that I am the sole occupant of one of the most elegant 
houses in the West End of London, on one of the most 
beautiful squares. It happened in this way. For ten days 
I was at the De Kayser Royal Hotel, hard by Blackfriars 
Bridge; but while I was taking "mine ease-in mine own 
inn," one of the London pastors told me that a wealthy lady, 
a member of his church, had gone to Scotland to be absent 
all the summer, but had expressed the earnest wish that her 
house should be occupied by members of the Alliance dur- 
ing its sessions, and he invited me and another delegate 
from the South to accept the proffered hospitality of his 
parishioner. My fellow-countryman had made another 
arrangement which he could not change, and so had to de- 
cline the invitation ; but I accepted it, and on removing 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



from the De Kayser to my new quarters, I found the kind 
pastor here to receive me and to put me in charge of the 
good housekeeper, who welcomed me in the absence of her 
mistress. She had been expecting guests every day, and as 
the servants, provisions, supplies and luxuries of every 
sort, were all in place, there would have been a disappoint- 
ment had no one come to enjoy them. I can hardly describe 
the feeling of quiet restfulness which possesses me here, 
after being ten days in a crowded steamer, then in the great 
audiences in Exeter Hall, to return in the evening to the 
cool, still rooms (the housekeeper says there are twenty- 
four in all) of this noble mansion, far removed from the 
throngs, the traffic, and the roar of the city. 

And now what shall I tell you about the Alliance ? It is 
scarcely worth while to attempt to give you an account of 
its doings, which you will learn so much more satisfactorily 
from the newspapers which I am sending you. Among 
the speakers who attract most attention are Professor 
Charteris, of Edinburgh; Dr. Drummond, of Glasgow; 
Dr. Donald Fraser, of London; Dr. Eugene Bersier, of 
Paris ; Dr. John Hall, of New York ; Principal Rainy, of 
Edinburgh ; Rev. M. de Pressense, of Paris ; Dr. Watts, 
of Belfast; Rev. E. Van Orden, of Brazil. There are 
delegates in the Alliance from every part of the United 
States and the British possessions in North America, 
from nearly every kingdom in Europe, from Africa, Asia, 
Australia, and the islands of the sea, representing a popula- 
tion of above twenty millions associated with the Presby- 
terian churches of the world. And yet the reports of the 
doings of this august council are to be found only in the 
religious newspapers. One looks in vain through the mul- 
titudinous columns of the Times, Telegraph, Standard, 
Daily News, etc., for any account of its proceedings, but 
for that matter, they are almost equally silent with regard 
to the great Anglican Lambeth Council now in progress in 
this city. It is not the custom of the secular press in Lon- 
don to report the proceedings of religious bodies. I need 
not say how different it is in our own country. Had this 
Alliance of the Reformed churches of the world met in 
Virginia every one of our Richmond daily newspapers 
would have reported everything connected with the meet- 
ing. The London papers devoted many columns to the 



In Labors More Abundant. 327 

notorious trial of the libel action brought by Wood, the 
famous jockey, against his alleged slanderer, but the doings 
of two great ecclesiastical bodies, the Anglican and the 
Pan-Presbyterian, representing so large a part of Chris- 
tendom, scarcely receives a passing notice. 

I have not had the opportunity of hearing any of the dis- 
tinguished ministers of the Alliance preach. I have heard 
them on the platform, and would have been delighted to 
have heard some of them in the pulpit, but I have lost the 
chance in consequence of having agreed to preach in St. 
Columba Church (Rev. Dr. MacLeod's) last Sunday morn- 
ing, and in the Camden Park Road Church (Rev. Mr. 
Thornton's) in the evening, and in the Regent Square 
Church — lately vacated by the resignation of Dr. Dykes — 
next Sunday morning, and in the church of which Rev. 
Donald Fraser is pastor, in the evening. During these 
sessions of the Alliance, of course, all the pulpits of the 
Presbyterian pastors of London are filled by ministers from 
abroad. 

The tedium of the session of the Alliance has been re- 
lieved by pleasant excursions judiciously interposed be- 
tween the business meetings. The first was to Argyll 
Lodge. The Duke himself was not present, owing to 
having to make a speech in Parliament that afternoon ; but 
he was well represented by Lord Balfour, who, in the 
Duke's absence, made an address of welcome to the Alli- 
ance, to which there were several handsome responses. It 
was to have been a sort of garden party, but so frequent 
were the showers that the guests were forced to take refuge 
under the piazza of the Lodge, or in the great tent on the 
lawn. When the sun came out, so did the guests, some of 
whom for the first time saw the Pipers, in all the bravery 
of their Highland costumes, strutting up and down the 
lawn, with. the indescribable pride of their race, and heard 
the wild notes of the pibroch. I believe I am the only one, 
out of Scotland, that enjoys the music of the bagpipes. It 
always excites and delights me, and I would at any time 
rather listen to the shrill strains of one of these musical 
Macs, when he "screws his pipes and gars them skirl," 
than hear Rubenstein, Von Bulow, or Hoffman on the 
piano. 



328 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



His own part in the council was one of those disappoint- 
ments to which all speakers are liable. The subject on which 
he was to speak had been carefully arranged by correspond- 
ence, and he had made very thorough preparation. It was on 
"Christ's Method of Reconciling the Antagonisms of So- 
ciety/'' and as written was one of his finest productions. The 
address was set for the close of the evening programme, on 
July 5th; but the preceding speaker, although speaking in 
his own home, entirely forgot the limitations of time and 
the courtesy due to the speaker who was to follow. Before 
he was through the audience had begun to stream out to 
catch the trains for their distant homes. When Dr. Hoge 
was announced, he said that it was of course out of the 
question to discuss such a subject as had been assigned him 
at that hour, and made a bright, captivating little speech of 
a few minutes, that arrested the exodus and sent every one 
home in a good humor — except, perhaps, himself. 

Far more fortunate was he in his address in Tremont 
Temple, Boston, at the meeting of the American Conference 
of the Evangelical Alliance, in December, 1889. The sub- 
ject was "Christian Cooperation in Awakening the Moral 
Sentiment of the Community." Here the magnificent audi- 
ence was appreciative and responsive, and the address was 
praised from one end of the land to the other, not only for 
its lofty thought, but for the beautiful literary form in which 
the thought was clothed. Like St. Paul at Athens, he showed 
in the Athens of America how well he calculated the intel- 
lectual meridian of his audiences, in the wealth of literary 
allusion that adorned his discourse without ever diverting 
him from the steady progress of his thought. 

But as we approach the limits of this chapter we are re- 
minded that we have said nothing of the International 
Sunday-school Committee, whose sessions he always at- 
tended, and to whose work he gave diligent service and 
helpful suggestions; nothing of his great sermon on the 
"Finality of the Scriptures," delivered before a great audi- 



In Labors More Abundant. 329 



ence of the leading men of the country in the New York 
Avenue Church, in Washington, and repeated many times 
by special request elsewhere ; nothing of his addresses before 
the Students' Conference at Northfield, nor of college ad- 
dresses without number; nothing of the lectures delivered 
in many places for benevolent objects, of the sermons 
preached to help his fellow-ministers on special occasions, of 
the churches that he dedicated in all parts of the land. It 
was really refreshing to hear of as many new churches as he 
was called upon to dedicate. In our lack of liturgical forms 
for such services everything depends on the taste and skill of 
the minister, and he gave to every part of such a service the 
same care and pains as to the sermon. 1 

Time would fail, also, to tell of the Confederate memorial 
addresses, the funerals of old soldiers in the Confederate 
Home, the participation in the funeral services of prominent 
persons of all denominations, and the frequent calls for 
prayer on public occasions. 

These things must be left unchronicled. He sowed beside 
all waters, and not only the harvest, but the record must be 
left to eternity. 

His life was now hastening to a climax, and we will close 
this chapter with a letter that closed a longer chapter in his 
life — the correspondence with the widow of the friend of his 
youth — his last letter to Mrs. Greenleaf : 

Richmond, March 20, 1888. 
My Dear Sister: This is the anniversary of my mar- 
riage. Forty- four years ago it pleased God to give me one 
whom you in your letters have often called "the peerless 
Susan." As years are counted, the time seems long, 

1 Among the principal churches dedicated by him may be men- 
tioned: The First Church, Atlanta; the Grand Avenue Church, St. 
Louis ; the Central Church, Washington ; the Central Church, Kansas 
City; the First Church, Louisville; the First Church, of Fulton, Mo., 

-of which his nephew, William Hoge Marquess, was the pastor ; the 
Church of the Covenant and Hoge Memorial, in Richmond, and the 

Chapel of the Soldiers' Home. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



though to memory it is but as yesterday when we gathered 
in the evening at "Poplar Hill" a company of happy 
friends, some eighty in number, though it was intended 
to have a very quiet and private wedding ; and now, of all 
that merry throng, not a dozen survive. As our years wear 
on — I speak of you and myself — they bring us nearer and 
nearer to one another, because they bring us nearer to 
Christ and heaven. "Forever with the Lord" and with one 
another; what an anticipation this is with which to make 
the true life attractive and glorious ! 

Your kind and tender letter in acknowledging the copy 
of the little speech I sent you was in itself a recompense for 
composing and delivering it. I know of no pleasure so 
pure as that of giving pleasure to those I love. 

Bessie keeps you informed as to family matters and 
church affairs. I am thankful to say both are in such a 
condition as to keep us constantly grateful. My own 
health is well nigh perfect. It has been ten years since I 
had a cold, and I never had a headache. Now and then I 
have a touch of sciatica — a severe one last summer — but it 
readily yields to treatment, so I am little interrupted in my 
work. I am very happy in my two congregations, and 
especially in having one of the hitherto "neglecters because 
neglected," to the number of a thousand and more, every 
Sunday night. My third service refreshes me when I get 
a little jaded from my second. 

With many thanks for your letter and endless blessings- 
on your head and in your heart, I remain, as ever, 

Affectionately yours, Moses D. Hoge.. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Anniversaries. 
1890 — 1895. 

"Do noble things, not dream them, all day long : 
And so make life, death, and that vast forever 

One grand, sweet song." — Kingsley. 

HOW many there are who go to their graves thirsting 
for a few drops of the appreciation that waters their 
memory with copious showers ! How many souls, wearied 
in service for others, are tempted in bitterness to say — 

" Come not, when I am dead, 

To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave, 
To trample round my fallen head 

And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save." 

One of Dr. Hoge's favorite themes was the value of appre- 
ciation and the expression of it, and one of his most effective 
New Year sermons was on the text, "Let the redeemed of 
the Lord say so/' involving not only the duty of confession 
and praise to God, but of the expression to benefactors and 
loved ones of our recognition of what they are and of what 
they have done for us. Certainly he himself had no cause 
for complaint, as he gratefully acknowledges ; for his min- 
istry had always called forth just that kind of appreciation 
that most helps and cheers a pastor. The great end of the 
ministry, of course, is to help ; but it helps us to help when 
we know that we help ; and if life is made "one grand, sweet 
song" by devotion and self-sacrifice, some echoes of that 
song should come back to us in the gratitude and love of 
those to whom we minister. 

But few can expect those echoes to come to them in such 
a swelling "Hallelujah Chorus" as greeted Dr. Hoge on the. 
anniversaries that crowned his ministry. 



33 2 Moses Drury Hoge. 

When it became known that his congregation intended 
to celebrate his forty-fifth anniversary, the demand came 
quick and strong that it should not be confined to his congre- 
gation. It was said, "Dr. Hoge belongs to Richmond, and 
not to one congregation, or to one denomination." So the 
scope of the celebration was widened. Prominent repre- 
sentatives of other denominations were invited to take part, 
and the Academy of Music — the largest hall in the city — 
was chosen for the place. Richmond was present ; all of it 
that could crowd in. Friends came from far and near. 
Most precious of all to him, his oldest daughter was present ; 
the first time in twenty-five years that she had been in a 
public assembly. The proceedings of the evening make in 
themselves quite a volume, and the letters of congratulation, 
if published, would make another. From the leading ad- 
dresses of the occasion we give a few of the most important 
^passages. 

Dr. John Hall, 1 of New York, said : 

I have pleasure in taking any modest part in these un- 
common exercises ; for it is not often, in this land, that a 
pastor labors in the same field for five-and-forty years. 
This celebration is honorable to the pastor ; it is honorable 
also to the church he serves, and to the community which 
thus express their appreciation. 

I am a representative, and one can sometimes claim atten- 
tion on that ground — attention to which he would not be 
entitled as an individual. I stand, first of all, for the con- 
gregation which I serve. Dr. Hoge has been in their pulpit, 
and, setting aside his exceptional brilliancy, in all other mat- 
ters he is counted by them as old-fashioned and orthodox as 
their pastor. I stand for the community of New York with 
which I come in contact, which always listens to his voice 
with the deepest interest and respect. I stand for the great 
Presbyterian community, as it was represented at the Cen- 
tennial exercises in Philadelphia, and for a larger constitu- 

1 Dr. Hall's address is given in full as printed ; but, except the first 
"two paragraphs, it is only a scant epitome of what he said. It was 
printed in the Memorial Volume from his MS. 




The Anniversaries. 



333 



ency in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, knowing 
his voice, figure and characteristics. I stand for a gentle- 
man, an Englishman, whose name I do not know, who sat 
down by me in a great meeting in London while Dr. Hoge 
was speaking. I noticed at once that his ears were open; 
then his eyes were open; then he opened his mouth and 
said to me, "Is that young man an American?" If the 
congregation where that gentleman worships were vacant, 
and Dr. Hoge were a candidate for the pulpit, I am sure he 
would vote for him. 

Dr. Hoge is entitled to our regard as a man, for the man 
is behind the minister. We do not believe in that division: 
of the race given as "men, women and ministers." We 
honor Dr. Hoge as a good, genial gentleman. In any line 
of life he would be valued and trusted. 

We know him as an evangelist, a minister not content 
with "running a congregation," as they say, but toiling for 
the good of outsiders. We honor him as a pastor. It is no 
light thing to have filled this place in this influential city for 
five-and-forty years. I have been just half that time in 
my present charge, and I sometimes feel as if my people 
know about all that I do ; but there comes to me the sober 
second thought that I have the divine word to explain to 
them, and it is inexhaustible. 

After an illustration of the difficulties of a busy city 
preacher from a Scottish minister's career, and another of 
the tenderness of the tie binding pastor and people together,, 
the Doctor proceeded: 

We honor — I honor — Dr. Hoge as a preacher of the gos- 
pel of grace. Men are now dividing up vice into sections, 
with an organization to deal with each section. The evan- 
gelical minister goes to the root of the matter with the 
grace that teaches men to deny ungodliness and all worldly 
lusts. There is a sphere in which it may be wise policy to 
"divide and conquer," but it is not the physician's way to 
give medicine for each symptom. He diagnoses the case, 
and strikes at the root of the trouble. So the Physician of 
souls would have us do ; and all virtue is so promoted. 
We are taught to "live soberly, righteously and godly" in 
the world. "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound: 



334 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of cure," and the man who is bringing the gospel to the 
homes and hearts of the people is guarding against wrong- 
doing, sin and the crimes which cost the community so 
much. A city may justly honor a faithful preacher of the 
grace that brings such salvation. Men say that we want, 
not dogma, but doing good ; but as the multiplication table 
is for making us keep accounts, as the rules of grammar 
.are for making us talk good English, so the doctrines of 
the Bible are for making us good, useful, unselfish Chris- 
tians, and so good citizens. I read not long ago of a sub- 
stitute for the gospel, in the "fatherhood of God, the 
motherhood of nature, and the brotherhood of man." It 
is nice to the ear; it is unmeaning, however. It is when 
we know God in Christ that we have the deepest sense of 
his fatherhood and of our brotherhood. Dr. Peter Parker 
realized that when he founded an hospital in Canton, China, 
which has treated, I suppose, a million of sufferers, and did 
it all in the spirit of living Christianity. Where would the 
"charities" of our nation be if it were not for the inspiration 
of this faith in Christ revealed in the gospel of grace? 



Bishop Wilson, of Baltimore, spoke more particularly of 
Dr. Hoge's relation to the great movements of the age in 
which he lived : 

Perhaps few men in the country, few men in the world, 
have been able to affect personally, not simply by any far- 
reaching utterance of his own that has gone through the 
press and has been sounded out from other lips, but by his 
own personality, such multitudes of men as the pastor of 
this church. And his popularity in that better, best sense 
•of the term has not declined with the advance of years. 

This, I say, is its culminating expression. Richmond is 
here to-night — the Richmond church, not the Richmond 
churches simply — the Richmond people, church and all ; 
thoughtful people, honest people, grateful people, people 
who know good when they see it, and can recognize the 
effect of a strong, hearty, vigorous, sympathetic, God-like 
life when it comes out in such development. The people 
and the church of God are here to testify to the fidelity of 
this man to his work and to the efficiency of his work. I 
am glad and grateful to witness it. 



The Anniversaries. 



335 



There are two things always to be taken into considera- 
tion when you consider the position of a man who has such 
popularity as this. One is, what has he taken into himself ? 
and the other is, what has he given out from himself ? 

He has come through the critical years, in fact, of Ameri- 
can history. It was but a little time after he commenced his 
pastorate in this church before he heard from afar the note 
of that marvellous war down there with Mexico, which 
opened to us that great southwestern territory, and brought 
us into close relationship with South America, and affected 
the tone of our national life. About the same time there 
came the cry of California gold, and the rush of emigration 
across the west, and roads were opened, and presently 
towns and cities began to spring up, and a new country 
was created. 

Over yonder, Oregon was brought into close connection 
by the struggle over its limit and the interest of its people, 
and a cry began to be made about the northwest territory. 
By-and-by railroads were projected in that direction, and 
the intimacy between the East and the West was cultivated 
until the heart of the people in all these great interests of 
national life became one. And all this time, keen-eyed, 
sympathies open, he was in the thick of this constantly con- 
verging swell of human impulses and influences, and grow- 
ing with it, until his own nature became as broad ; and that 
was not sufficient for him, but he wanted to touch hands 
and hearts with the people of other lands. 

He crossed the seas; heard English accentuation of 
American speech ; went among the Welsh populations, and 
the Irish ; and he would lay himself alongside, in brotherly 
consciousness and earnest Christian service, with the old- 
world workers, and got all that was best and truest and 
strongest out of their life, and brought it back here ; and he 
has continued to cultivate these sympathies. He has gone 
into the individual and social life of families of this city, 
as well as of other cities and foreign lands. He has seen 
and appreciated the best sides and best qualities of social 
life. He has gone into the individual life of cultivated men 
and of the common people. He has gone into the homes of 
the poor, and has appreciated their need and the narrow- 
ness of their lives. 

There is no phase of our diversified human nature that 



33^ 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



he has not looked into and which has not worked upon his- 
sympathies, and brought them out, and unfolded them, 
until he claims humanity as one, and himself imbedded in 
the centre of its great brotherhood. It is just because he 
has gone into such wideness of sympathy with our kind, 
has touched so many sides in human life, has become identi- 
fied with so many interests of human nature ; it is because 
he has interchanged thoughts with so many forms and 
specimens of human character; because he has wept with 
them that weep, rejoiced with them that rejoice, under all 
the manifold conditions of our life ; it is because of these 
that he has become popular. 

Narrowness shows a man within a narrow circle; in- 
dividual narrowness of thought and feeling. The man who 
looks into his own household, and that alone, and never 
gets out into the community, never gets into the broad field 
of common life in its development about him: who does 
not know anything about the party interests of the country, 
and which is right and which is wrong, and the great com- 
mercial interests of the country, and the wants of the great 
masses of the people, rich and poor ; the man who thinks 
only of what is going to build up his own character and 
fortunes, and has no other concerns, will never be a popu- 
lar man, and ought not to be. 

But when a man has got the whole broad surface of our 
humanity, with its infinite variety of life and issues open 
to him, you may make him popular without danger to any 
community ; and when a man comes back charged in this 
way with the profoundest concern for all human interests, 
with the closest sympathy with all human conditions, to 
take his place, not simply as a minister and doctor, but as 
a man among men, to whom nothing human is foreign, 
when he is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with the 
toiler, side by side with the sufferer under shadow of the 
cloud, when he knows man as man, and as man enters into 
sympathetic association with him, you may trust him, and 
he will be a popular man, and ought to be. 

And, now, what has he given out in all this time ? With 
all his breadth of sympathy, he has maintained unalterably 
and at all times his individual convictions upon every point 
that has been brought before him requiring a conviction. 



The Anniversaries. 



337 



I reckon you know all about that, too. He has had the 
manhood to form his own opinions, to sift them, to test 
them; and, if they were the right kind of convictions, he 
would yield them to no man. 

A good many questions have come up in these forty-five 
years. First, your course of political history ; then, your 
course of social history, which has threatened all our rela- 
tions in all the aspects of them. The multiplied and 
complex problems that have been presented in the changed 
conditions of labor and of capital have been forced upon 
our attention. 

Do you suppose that, standing here in the centre of them, 
with all the avenues of thought and life pouring in their 
tides of influence upon him, he has been indifferent to any 
one of these questions ? I do not believe it, and neither do 
you. 

Not a man of us standing here can understand the import 
and immense interest of these things, and not think about 
them and reach conclusions. 

I never knew a man yet that had a congregation united 
upon any of these questions ; and the strongest temptation 
that a minister of the gospel has is to compromise his 
opinion and conviction upon these points so as to keep the 
peace, prevent disorder ; and yet he has learned to read 
that word of scripture, "First pure, then peaceable," and 
has held to his own convictions and has made no enemies 
by it. That is the marvel of it. I do not know how it has 
happened. There is in it something more than mere human 
fidelity. There is a grace of God about it, and the power of 
God's Spirit involved in it — that a man can stand up forty- 
five years true to himself, his creed, honest in all his convic- 
tions, determined in his attitude and his relations to his 
people, and yet cast up no element of antagonism, and stir 
no strife or discord among his people (I hear you have 
never had a strife in your church) — it is a marvel; and 
when a man has attained a position like that, without com- 
promise, without forfeiture of manhood, without giving up 
his own convictions, he can touch the great body and mass 
of the people. That is the sort of man I want to see in 
mission work. 

I confess that my only regret about the matter is, that 
you have had him so long. Such a man ought not to be 



338 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



shut down in any one place. You know I am a Methodist. 
He ought to itinerate, and bring all these qualities of his 
along with him. 

Hon. J. L. M. Curry spoke more of Dr. Hoge's old-world 
relations : 

We are rather boastful of the influence of American ideas 
and institutions on international law, on systems and poli- 
cies of government, on great truths of personal and reli- 
gious liberty; and we hold that the quadri-centennial 
celebration of the discovery of America will find its crown- 
ing, consummate glory in what has been wrought for 
humanity and Christ, for social, political and industrial 
regeneration within the limits and through the influence of 
our complex and related governments and our representa- 
tive institutions. We have not been able to congratulate 
ourselves on like beneficial religious results flowing back- 
wards to mother countries. Dr. Hoge, however, among the 
few, has been useful, we may say conspicuous, in foreign 
religious assemblies, in foreign pulpits, in association with 
the cultured, in making a favorable impression for Ameri- 
can Christianity. 

He has preached in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, 
on the continent, in Africa and in Asia ; and as confirma- 
tory of what I have affirmed of our common attachment 
to the one universal Christ, the "old, old story," as he pro- 
claimed it, has met a like response from Christian hearts 
in widely distant lands. The eloquent Bishop has said that 
such a preacher as Dr. Hoge should itinerate, and that one 
place should not monopolize his pulpit ministrations. 
With due humility I respectfully suggest that his diocese 
has been a large one, and that few itinerants have had such 
large opportunities for utilizing their gifts. It is a singular 
fact that two of his present congregation, eager sharers in 
this joyous celebration, have heard their pastor on four 
continents. Dr. Hoge has shown his catholic Christianity 
by sitting under the ministry of those who have illustrated 
in their labors the power, the universality, and the all- 
sufficiency of the gospel. To hear Parker, Liddon, Spur- 
geon, to worship in tabernacle and cathedral, to rejoice in 
a common faith, that is genuine catholicity. 



The Anniversaries. 



339 



It was the pleasing office of Bishop Randolph, of the Dio- 
cese of Virginia, to speak of Dr. Hoge in his relations to 
other churches and denominations — a task to which his own 
""sweet spirit of Christian unity" peculiarly fitted him : 

Here and there along my life it has been my privilege to 
sit under his preaching. That preaching has always kin- 
dled my intellect and warmed my heart, and given me new 
impulses of hope in the duties of my calling. A few years 
ago I parted from a dear member of my family. He left 
us to study for his profession in one of the great universi- 
ties of Europe. Often in my prayers I asked that he 
might be protected from the religious indifference and 
skepticism which characterized the great city in which he 
lived for nearly two years. On his return, the first Sunday 
he spent with us, he went to the worship in the Second 
Presbyterian Church. As long as he was in the city, no 
engagement was permitted to interfere with his attendance 
upon these afternoon services. Upon my coming home in 
the week, in the quiet hours in my study, he would tell me 
of the current of thought in the sermon. I could see that 
he was touched and deeply impressed. That gladdened 
my heart and warmed it toward my friend and brother 
more than I can tell you. In some sense, then, I may claim 
with you, his people, to have shared the benefits of your 
pastor's ministry. To describe the relations and associa- 
tions, and to analyze the influences upon you, his congre- 
gation, and upon the community, of such a ministry, 
extending over forty-five years, would be too much to ask 
of me in the brief time at my disposal. The relations of a 
pastor to his flock, of a preacher to his people, are abso- 
lutely unique. The lawyer is the trusted friend of his 
client ; the family physician, who ministers to us in our 
Iiours of weakness and suffering, has his deep place in our 
hearts like one of the sacred circle of our home; but the 
pastor, whose preaching has moved and warmed and illu- 
mined and comforted our souls, and perchance been the 
instrument in God's hands to bring us to Christ ; who has 
moved as a central figure through all the scenes of our joy 
and our sorrow ; who has baptized our little children, mar- 
ried our young men and maidens, buried our dead, and 
comforted our sorrows — such associations engender rela- 



340 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



tions which partake of the nature of the elements with 
which they deal. They have in them something of the. 
imperishable, the immortal ; and these ties have been deep- 
ened in your case by circumstances which, though not 
absolutely without precedent, are still exceptional. 

The relation of this ministry to other churches and to the 
community at large in the city of Richmond find their best 
illustration in the character of the congregations which 
gather in the Second Presbyterian Church on the after- 
noons of Sunday. To one acquainted with the people of 
this city, in looking around upon that congregation as it 
has gathered there to hear the preacher for many years, 
past, it would be difficult to tell, but for the forms of the 
worship, the name of the church we are in. 

You see around you Methodists and Presbyterians, Epis- 
copalians and Baptists, all singing the hymns and joining 
in the worship and listening with rapt attention to the 
words of the preacher. It has been said that there is less 
denominational jealousy, and more of the broad, sweet 
spirit of Christian unity, among the churches in the city 
of Richmond than in the majority of communities in our 
land. A blessed thing it is to say of any community, for its 
civilization, for its light, its education, its Christian man- 
hood and womanhood; it is blessed, if it be so. Why 
should it not be so? If men can do business together in 
the same offices, in the same stores ; if women can mingle 
in the same circles of social and family life in a thousand 
homes, cannot they worship God together? Cannot they 
listen to the preaching of Christ's gospel together? Per- 
haps these afternoon services have helped to educate our 
people into the great principles of practical Christian unity. 
Perhaps they have helped to put your city in the advance 
ranks of that great movement throughout Christendom 
for Christian unity. The tide is moving and rising along 
the lines of all the churches in Christendom. The day is 
coming when jealousies between churches and rivalries be- 
tween preachers and the sharp tongues of sectarian exclu- 
siveness will be numbered among the things of the past. 
It will come, it is coming ; not by what you call the oblitera- 
tion of denominational differences ; not by all churches 
consenting to merge themselves into one organism, and 



The Anniversaries. 



34i 



subscribe to one confession of faith and one theological 
system ; not when Christendom in its million churches will 
repeat the same prayers and worship through the same 
litany and chant the same anthems. That would be the 
unity of sameness, the unity of uniformity, the unity of the 
sands upon the seashore — all alike, yet separate, and with 
no living bond between them. This unity that is coming 
will be like the unity of nature, one spirit under diversity 
of form ; one living force under diversity of operation ; 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
all, who is above all, and with you all, and in you all. How 
far ahead of his time Paul was ! The Corinthians divided 
into parties ; the watch-word of one party was, "I am of 
Paul ;" of another, "I am of Apollos ;" another, "I am of 
Cephas." How Paul lifts them, and lifts the Church of all 
ages, out of its inveterate tendency to glory in itself, to 
glory in men ! He tells them that the ministry is your ser- 
vant for Jesus' sake. This ministry, with all its gifts, be- 
longs, not to itself, but to you. All things are yours. The 
faith and the fire of Cephas ; the eloquence and the grace 
of Apollos ; the logic and the fervor of Paul — all are yours. 
All the ministers and churches of this city belong to each 
and every one of you Christian people. Dr. Hoge, your 
own minister, as a preacher, as a teacher, belongs to me as 
well as to you, and the varied gifts of ever other minister in 
this city belong to us all — they are all our servants for 
Jesus' sake ; but I must not detain you from others who are 
to address you on this deeply interesting occasion. This 
long ministry of forty-five years among you, growing and 
deepening through the years, gathering larger crowds to- 
day under its preaching than at any other period of its 
history, old in years, but young in the enthusiasm and the 
love of all the people, is a signal refutation, is it not, of the 
common criticism of the indifferent and skeptical classes 
of our age, that the pulpit has lost its power ? that the mis- 
sion of the preacher is done ? They tell us that the age is 
a practical, a materialistic age ; that men are in haste to be 
rich, or hurrying after pleasure, or driven by passion, and 
that they will not listen to the preacher. Is this so ? This 
man whom you honor to-night has been preaching here 
forty-five years. Visit his church on Sunday evening, and 
there are young men and old, a thronged assemblage. They 



342 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



are listening to the preacher they have heard hundreds of 
times. Would they listen that way to a lecturer upon 
science ? The scientific lecturer would tell them about the 
structure of their bodies, about the laws of heat and elec- 
tricity, about the conservation and correlation of forces. 
How long do you suppose he would hold them, listening 
there to him, thronging to hear him ? Twenty years ? ten 
years ? one year ? Oh ! no. Men must listen to the gospel ; 
they have their sins, their sorrows, their battles with doubt 
and temptations, the fear of death, their cry for help in 
view of the great hereafter; human guilt and Christ's re- 
demption; man the prodigal, and God the Father wel- 
coming him home; death and judgment and eternity. 
Men will listen to these themes, and they will never cease to 
listen. 

Dr. Kerr, of the First Presbyterian Church, spoke for the 
Presbyterian pastors of Richmond, and for the Southern 
Presbyterian Church : 

If I am to speak for my brethren, the Presbyterian min- 
isters of this city, what shall I say ? — that Dr. Hoge, by his 
eloquence and splendid diction, maintained for nearly half 
a century, has made it hard for us to preach, not only in 
his pulpit, but anywhere within the range of his influence ? 
No; not that, but the opposite, for by the incentive and 
training of his example he has made it easier for us to 
preach the gospel. Because he has disdained the tricks and 
cheap attractions of a sensational style, adhering to the 
simplicity of the Scriptures and the attractiveness of the 
cross, it has been easier for us to tell the story of re- 
deeming love. He has raised the standard of pulpit effort, 
and has raised the respect and influence of the ministry in 
the sentiments of the people. He has made it easier for us 
to do our work, because he has made the name of a Chris- 
tian minister honorable in this great commonwealth and far 
beyond it. More than that : he has made it easier to be a 
Christian, easier for clergy and laity ; easier for those who 
toil with the muscle or brain; easier for the wealthy and 
learned ; easier for the humble poor to lead a sober, right- 
eous and godly life to the glory of the Almighty name. 
He has done it by his preaching; he has done it by his 



The Anniversaries. 



343 



conversation ; he has done it by the life he has lived, which 
has been for half a century in the public eye unchallenged 
and unrebuked even by the carping world ; a life that has 
added, so that all can feel it, to the momentum of goodness 
that is moving mankind toward God. 

I do not consider that, in standing for the Southern 
Presbyterian Church to-night I am in her name to confer 
a distinction on Dr. Hoge. There are none left that she 
has not already given him. For twenty-five years there 
has hardly been a vacant pulpit of importance, a professor- 
ship or presidency in college or university, which had not 
been his if he wished it. We have been glad to have him 
preside as Moderator, in the succession with Thornwell, 
Palmer, Robinson and Dabney. He has been our agent in 
many most delicate and difficult negotiations with other 
denominations. We have sent him more than once to the 
World's Alliance of Presbyterian Churches and to the con- 
ferences of the Evangelical Alliance of all the Christians. 

If I should gather up all the laurels of forty-five years, 
and twine them into a wreath, it would be too heavy for me 
to lift and place it upon his brow, though he would be 
strong enough to bear it. 

And now let the mighty impulse of this one feeling which 
fills all hearts rise in prayer to God, that this star may long 
shine in our earthly skies. It shall never go down ; it shall 
at last ascend to glisten in a purer firmament, and come to 
rest beside the eternal throne. Let us pray that it long may 
linger here, and shine as bright as it does to-night; and 
when we make this prayer let the people say, Amen ! Amen ! 

When Dr. Hoge arose to respond at the conclusion of this 
speech, the rounds of applause that greeted him soon gave 
way to a breathless hush as the vast throng waited to catch 
his first words. The delicacy, the grace, the tenderness, the 
power of this speech can only be imagined by those who 
have heard Dr. Hoge. The joy, tempered with sadness at 
the thought of the multitudes that had gone before; the 
gratitude chastened with unaffected humility ; the kindliness 



344 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



and benignity towards all classes in the community for which 
he had so long labored; the generous and cordial tributes 
to the men who honored the occasion with their presence, 
and their words; above all, the supreme honor and glory 
given to the Triune, covenant-keeping God; all these ele- 
ments mingled in a speech that only such a man could have 
made on such an occasion. The w r ords spoken we can read ; 
the voice, the manner, and the fine aroma of the night linger 
only in the memory and the heart. 

It is difficult to find words in which to express the com- 
mingled emotions awakened by this anniversary. 

First of all, I trust my most fervent feeling is gratitude 
to God for sparing me to this hour; gratitude for per- 
mitting me to serve him so long in the ministry of the gos- 
pel ; gratitude for the unbroken harmony which has 
existed between my people and myself, and for the unity 
and peace which have made their relations to each other 
so delightful. The blessings and the benefits which result 
from such concord have been so happily portrayed in the 
different addresses of the evening that we have had a fresh 
and inspiriting impression of the beauty of the psalm whose 
opening words always fall like music on the ear of the 
listening heart, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is 
for brethren to dwell together in unity." 

Next I hasten to acknowledge the generous greeting 
given me at the very commencement of these exercises by 
one whose high official position and personal worth make 
any expression of regard from such a source dear to me — 
one who comes from my native county, who represents my 
college, and, better still, who represents this noble com- 
monwealth — borne, as he was, into office on the tide of an 
overwhelming popular vote — one who was the friend of 
my youth, as he has been during all the succeeding years, 
his Excellency Governor Philip Watkins McKinney. 

Next, I desire most affectionately to reciprocate the 
assurances of regard and confidence expressed in the reso- 
lutions of the Presbyterian Pastors' Association, made all 
the more welcome to me because drafted by the brother in 
charge of the church which was a colony from my own, and 
read to this audience by my colleague at the Old Market 



The Anniversaries. 



345 



Hall, who is now conducting that enterprise with signal 
success. 

And what response can I make to the cordial and loving 
words spoken by my revered and honored brethren who 
have come from their near or distant homes to honor this 
occasion with their presence, and to lay me under obliga- 
tions I can never repay or express, so moved am I by their 
generous approval? 

It might be supposed that such addresses as we have 
heard to-night, replete with commendation and encourage- 
ment, would fill my heart only with emotions exultant and 
joyous ; but who does not know that in the midst of scenes 
fullest of gladness there often intermingles with the joy a 
strange sadness, like a solemn refrain running through a 
jubilant song? 

When I remember that of the sixty-three members com- 
posing the church with which I commenced my ministry 
but two are with us to-night ; when I remember that those 
to whom I have preached since that year, now numbered 
with the departed, would form a larger congregation than 
this vast assembly ; when I recall to mind the fact that it 
was my office to direct the religious thought, to shape the 
Christian principles, and to develop the spiritual life of that 
great multitude, the remembrance of the imperfect manner 
in which I discharged that solemn trust, and the conviction 
that I might have been far more helpful to those who are 
now beyond the reach of earthly influence had I preached 
more faithfully, more tenderly, more lovingly, admonishes 
me that, if this is an hour for joy, it is also an hour for peni- 
tence and tears. 

So, too, while listening to the kind words which have 
been spoken with regard to my life and labors, I have been 
conscious that they were descriptive rather of what I ought 
to have been and might have been; and none can better 
understand and appreciate my meaning than these very 
brethren when I say that I am more humbled than elated 
by their unmerited commendation, and that the best use I 
can now make of their approval is to derive from it a stimu- 
lus hereafter to follow with more affectionate fidelity in 
the footsteps of my Lord, and to serve the people to whom 
I minister with new diligence and devotion. 

In this I am encouraged by the conviction that, with 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



whatever conscientious study and honest work I can prose- 
cute my coming labor, I shall be sustained in the future, as 
I have been in the past, by the cooperation of the earnest 
men and noble women of my charge. 

No pastor was ever blessed with a more loyal churchy 
and so far as its enterprises have been successful, the result 
has been mainly due to the ready sympathy and persistent 
activity of its members ; and I avail myself of this great 
opportunity of bearing this public testimony to the loving 
fidelity and consecrated devotion of my people — a fidelity, 
a devotion that has never faltered or wavered, but has been 
as undeviatingly fixed and true as the pointers of the splen- 
did constellation that to-night with fingers of radiant light 
and beauty point steadily to the pole. 

But no church, however organized and equipped, if 
isolated from its sister churches, or if antagonistic to them, 
can accomplish any widespread and permanent good in the 
community. 

And here, too, I find another element and explanation of 
whatever of service my church has rendered to the ma- 
terial, the intellectual, and the spiritual welfare of the 
public. 

It has had the good will of all denominations — most 
notably and unmistakably their kindest regards. 

And this leads me to ask, in conclusion, what is the real' 
meaning and true significance of this splendid throng in 
the Academy of Music to-night? 

It is not to make one man the object of temporary atten- 
tion ; it is not to honor a particular church ; it is to illus- 
trate the beauty of Christian charity, the happiness which 
comes from Christian concord. 

If there is anything more characteristic than another of 
the times we live in, it is the fact, that while there was 
never more denominational zeal and activity than now, 
associated with it there is a determination to bring to the 
front the real unity which binds all the branches of the 
Christian family together in one harmonious and happy 
brotherhood. There is an uprising and advancing tidal 
wave of gospel charity, which, I trust, will continue to rise 
and flow until it sweeps away all the bigotry, the intoler- 
ance, and the exclusiveness which have so long deformed! 
and degraded Christendom. 



The Anniversaries. 347 

In no city in our land is there a more kindly feeling 
among the different denominations than in Richmond. It 
had an early manifestation among the pastors who labored 
together in harmony until they went up to renew their in- 
tercourse in the world of love. Their spirit has descended 
to our day, and so prevails among us that were a minister 
of any denomination to proclaim arrogant and intolerant 
claims in behalf of his own church, there is a public senti- 
ment in this community that would put him down and shut 
him up. 

The pastors most beloved and honored in Richmond 
have always been those who have cultivated and mani- 
fested most largely the grace of charity. The most really 
prosperous churches have been those whose motto has been, 
"Let brotherly love continue." 

We have a delightful illustration of the unity of feeling 
which pervades our churches before our eyes at this mo- 
ment, in the sympathy and interest manifested in the 
exercises of this very hour. This is neither a Methodist, 
Baptist, Episcopal, nor Presbyterian audience. 

What is it ? 

It is a fraternal gathering of Christian brethren, met to 
honor, encourage, and love each other ; met to be reminded 
that the truths common to all the churches are the most 
important and precious of all the truths ; met that we may 
in union kindle our hopes afresh as we together look to the 
same dear cross shining above us in its immeasurable glory, 
and that with united hands and hearts we may together 
press on to the land we love and are looking for, assured 
that it is not a cold assent to an article in the creed, but the 
warm expression of a thrilling experience which constrains 
us with one voice and heart to exclaim, "I believe in the 

COMMUNION OF THE SAINTS. - " 

To you, my dear and honored brethren, whose addresses 
have contributed so much to the pleasure and profit of this 
commemoration service, I beg leave to tender the united 
thanks of the officers and members of the church I repre- 
sent. Your coming has been hailed with joy; your de- 
parture will cause us grief; but those who love the Lord 
never part for the last time. They may so part on earth, 
but they will meet again in the world of recognition and 
communion in the glory everlasting; and these sweet 



.348 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Christian friendships formed on earth and cemented by the 
blood of Christ will not perish by the stroke of death, but 
will have a resurrection beyond the grave, and will spring 
up and flourish beautiful and immortal in the paradise of 
God! 

To you, my friends of all denominations, who have 
shown such an interest in this commemoration from the 
time it was first proposed, whose presence here to-night and 
whose evident sympathy in these exercises have added so 
much to the happiness of the occasion, to you I shall ever 
be grateful, and to the God who has put it into your hearts 
to show me kindness in so many ways and for so many 
years. 

Were the house I live in as large as my desire to enter- 
tain the friends to whom I speak to-night, I would gladly 
invite you there. 

But there will be room enough in the Second Presbyte- 
rian Church, where, at the conclusion of these services, you 
will find a warm welcome, and a banquet prepared by the 
ladies, to which all are most cordially invited. 

When the exercises at the Academy were over, the great 
«crowd which rapidly filled and refilled the church — several 
blocks away — was entertained by a sacred concert, while 
they waited their opportunity of going into the lecture-room 
to greet Dr. Hoge with personal congratulations. 

The press of the city headed their accounts of this anniver- 
sary, "A Life Crowned." But it was not a life completed. 
The lustrum between this celebration and that of his semi- 
centennial jubilee was as full as any similar period of his 
life. He was president of the Richmond Home for Old 
Ladies, chairman of the Committee of Publication, president 
of the Trustees of the Hoge Academy, named in his honor; 
a trustee of Hampden-Sidney College, a manager of the 
Virginia Bible Society, a member of the International 
Sunday-school Lesson Committee, one of the Executive 
Committee of the Arbitration Alliance, chaplain of the First 
Regiment of Virginia Volunteers, a member of R. E. Lee 
-Camp, U. C. V., of the Virginia Historical Society, and of the 



The Anniversaries. 349' 

Executive Committee of the Confederate Publication So- 
ciety; a vice-president of the Presbyterian Historical So- 
ciety, and of several other Northern societies; legatee of a. 
bequest for establishing a foundling hospital, and member 
of the Prison Association ; and, of course a member of the 
Presbyterian Pastors' Association, and the Evangelical Alli- 
ance of Richmond. To all he gave time, thought and labor. 
There was no public occasion in Richmond, secular or eccle- 
siastical, in which some service was not demanded from 
him ; while the private demands upon his time and patience 
and benevolence were without number. 

He avoided, when possible, the routine work of ecclesi- 
astical courts — work that others were always glad to do — 
but gave the most patient attention to all their proceedings ; 
never obtruding himself, but by his wisdom and tact and 
experience, seeking to prevent mistakes and to maintain the 
high standard which he felt such bodies ought to maintain. 
Once, when he felt that the Synod of Virginia had forgotten 
its proper dignity, he wished to recall it to its proper place 
without assuming to himself the office of a censor. Just then 
he had to make a little speech about the Central Presby- 
terian, which he turned into the occasion he sought. Speak- 
ing of his own connection with it, and his five years' associa- 
tion with Dr. T. V. Moore, as his colleague, he paused to pay 
a tribute to Dr. Moore's ability as preacher, pastor, and eccle- 
siastic; to his familiarity with all precedents and rules of 
order of deliberative bodies ; to his reverential regard for an 
ecclesiastical court, legislating by the authority of Jesus 
Christ in the interests of his kingdom, and never losing sight 
of the dignity and decorum, the reverence and serious de- 
votion that became a court of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many 
thanked him for the kindly way in which his rebuke was 
given. 

One of his favorite ideas was that the meetings of our 
church courts did not make the proper impression on the 
public because of the way in which they were reported — 



350 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



giving merely the dry bones of what was done, without the 
flesh and blood and heart of the proceedings. To his cousin, 
Dr. W. S. Lacy, he wrote : 

Another way of reporting would be to put the reader, 
in imagination, in the place where the synod meets, to 
sketch in a few lines the appearance of the body, to make 
brief mention of prominent delegates, to say something 
about the audience, the adaptation of the building for 
speeches made on the floor; and then, having by a few 
graphic touches made the reader see what was in the eye of 
the writer, proceed to select among the topics discussed 
only such as are interesting to the public at large, by reason 
of their intrinsic importance, or by the ability with which 
they were discussed, taking care to give the cream of the 
speeches themselves, the manner of their delivery, and the 
impression made on the audience. At every synod, there 
are, say, half a dozen speeches made, so full of information, 
so full of great truths, impressively urged, containing just 
the things which would interest the public that it is unfor- 
tunate indeed that they are unheard and unknown beyond 
the walls within which they are delivered. These discus- 
sions, of which the people know nothing, guide the synod 
to the conclusions to which it comes. They are the real 
forces which determine results. They are to ecclesiastical 
questions what the speeches of senators are to political 
questions. What would be said if the public could only 
read the laws enacted by Congress without having the 
opportunity of reading the speeches of those who framed 
them? We may learn something here from what is done 
by the great political bodies into which the country is 
divided. A few thousands hear the arguments of the 
speakers — millions read them. The principles of govern- 
ment are thus popularized ; the intelligence of the people 
is cultivated, information is diffused, voters are enabled 
to come to clear convictions with regard to the wisest and 
best platform of principles on which the patriotic should 
plant themselves, and by which the prosperity of the coun- 
try may be best secured, and the result is determined by the 
ballots which decide the issue. 

Again, such a reporter will introduce to his readers many 
things of interest not noticed in the reports of those who 



The Anniversaries. 



35i 



tell only what is done and not what is said. These episodes 
often interest the audiences present — as they would the 
outside public, if informed of them — quite as much as the 
regular business of the synod ; but as they are to have no 
place in the minutes, they find no place in the reports which 
are given to the secular newspapers. 

Of his own occupations about this time he wrote to Dr. 
Lacy (November 5, 1891) : 

My Dear Cousin : I have frequent occasion to admire 
your considerate regard for my time and convenience when 
you confer with me about any work I am requested to 
undertake. 

You probably understand better than others the exacting 
nature of my duties and the pressure under which I live. I 
think it was La Place who said if he had been consulted he 
would have made a better world than this; and he sug- 
gested certain improvements in the arrangements of 
things. Without any sympathy with such presumption I 
often find myself wishing I could lengthen the day by an 
hour or two. I do not shrink from work — I revel in it — 
but I often long for more time in which to do it. While 
trying to keep even with my engagements, and finding 
myself drifting behind, I say, this week is one of unusual 
extras, but next week I will have nothing more than my 
regular routine to go through, when, presto ! I find it 
fuller of the unexpected than the preceding week. 

Take this week for a sample. Beginning with last Sun- 
day morning and ending with next Saturday night, I find 
I have fourteen engagements in the way of committee 
meetings, sermons, addresses, etc., in addition to visits to be 
made and received, letters to write, and the daily horseback 
rides which keep me fresh and young. 

Since I came home from my summer vacation, I have 
been trying to find time to do several things. Our Com- 
mittee of Publication has requested me to allow them to 
publish my Old Market Hall sermons; Professor Henne- 
man, of Hampden-Sidney, has asked me to prepare for him 
a sketch of my grandfather Hoge, and I have watched for 
an opportunity to begin my sermon or address on the 
Claims of the Presbyterian Church, to say nothing of other 
calls of a similar nature, such as a history of my running 



352 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the blockade and my mission to England during the war. 
All these undertakings are hindered solely for want of 
time, every hour being absorbed by daily demands. It is a 
very unsatisfactory life, but I see no help for it. Under 
the circumstances, you 'see, it is impossible to set any time 
for compliance with the request of the Norfolk League. 
I can only execute my intention when an opportunity for 
it occurs, if it ever should. I regret, more than you can, 
my inability to be more definite. 

A year or so later he wrote his nephew : 

My Dear Peyton : As the months wear on, so far from 
bringing any respite from my toils, they add to the number 
of engagements which render life a chronic scuffle to keep 
from drifting far behind what I undertake to accomplish. 
It is a work, too, that seems only to consume time without 
producing any adequate results. It is only the incidental 
good that I may do for the immediate present in the innu- 
merable channels of public service that gives me any conso- 
lation. My influence may be providentially limited to my 
contemporaries, and I must be content and thankful that I 
can sometimes see how far-reaching it is, though it be only 
like the widening circles on the surface of the lake into 
which a stone has been cast. I have just had a striking 

illustration of this in the death of Major , our eminent 

lawyer, who was suddenly stricken down during his visit to 
Chicago. He was so much impressed by the prayer I 
offered at the interment of Mr. Davis that he took the paper 
containing it to Chicago, and during the forenoon of the 
day on which he died he read it to a company of relations 
and friends with such emphasis and expression, that when 
he finished the reading, the company was in tears. To- 
night I have been to see his bereaved widow, and the great- 
est consolation she now has is in the fact that one of his last 
acts was the impressive reading of a prayer. 

How little did I think when I composed it that it would 
be read and commented on all over the country. 

Probably nothing that Dr. Hoge ever did received more 
universal commendation than this prayer. 1 Just after its 

1 See Appendix, page 496. 



The Anniversaries. 



353 



delivery a gentleman who was personally interested in Dr. 
Hoge heard some one remark, "It was worth the whole 
journey here just to hear that prayer." He was so struck 
with the remark that he inquired who the speaker was. It 
was General Stephen D. Lee, of Mississippi. His earlier 
address, 1 on the death of Mr. Davis, was also the subject 
of much congratulation. On such occasions, as in all his 
personal influence, his aim was to allay the bitterness of past 
strife, and direct the mind and heart to the responsibilities of 
the great future and to the needs of this broad land. In fact, 
while he had been one of the most ardent of Confederates, 
it is doubtful if any one did more after the war to reunite 
the sections by his own influence and personal associations. 
After a visit to Cornell University, Dr. Adams wrote him : 

Your coming to us was peculiarly gratifying, in many 
ways. It seems to me there is every reason why the people 
of the North and South should be drawn closely together 
by every possible tie. Such acquaintances as it is possible 
to make on errands of this kind cannot but tend to soften 
the sectional asperity, and bind our people more sympa- 
thetically and warmly together. Aside from this consider- 
ation, your visit gave great pleasure, not only to my mother 
and myself, but also to all the people of the university, 
and I wish very heartily to thank you for what you did 
for us. 

I was very much pleased by your address on Stonewall 
Jackson. It is not strange that the remembrance of him is 
one of the sacred possessions of your people, and they are 
fortunate in having his life and character set forth with 
such remarkable power and eloquence at the timemis monu- 
ment was unveiled. 2 

The address given at Boston gave me a new impulse on 
the subject of Christian unity and cooperation. 

I sincerely hope that the acquaintance we have so pleas- 
antly begun, may not end with this single visit. 

1 Appendix, p. 463. 

2 Dr. Hoge had sent Dr. Adams copies of his Stonewall Jackson ora- 
tion and of his Boston address on his return from this visit, which was 
one of the most interesting he ever made anywhere. 



354 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Meanwhile, the demands for service at distant points had 
grown so numerous that he meditated some more practical 
method of meeting them than a readjustment of the solar 
system. He was greatly impressed with the importance of 
these things. The proper representation of the Presbyterian 
Church on public occasions; the needs of his brethren for 
help in special emergencies, and on extraordinary occasions ; 
the vast good to be accomplished if one could respond to all 
the appeals for college addresses, lectures, dedication services 
and the like ; and the lack in the Presbyterian system of any 
one to do such work except busy pastors like himself. 

In view of this need, it had been for some time his earnest 
hope that he would be able to give up in whole or in part 
the responsibilities of the pastorate, that he might give his 
remaining days to the help of his brethren and to putting in 
permanent form some of the accumulations of a life-time; 
but these hopes were doomed to disappointment. He had 
lost a competent fortune in the collapse of the Confederacy. 
His hopes of a competency in his old age, which would 
enable him to carry out this wish, were frustrated by the 
failure of investments in the Northwest through the depre- 
ciation of values following the panic of 1893. What was 
left he had to conserve for the sake of those dependent upon 
him, especially as the ample life insurance he had taken in 
his young manhood was based upon a stupid principle, by 
which its value continually shrank the longer he lived and 
the more he paid. 1 

1 This may seem incredible in this age, but the policy dated from the 
early days of insurance. Policy-holders paid only fifty per cent, of 
the premium, giving their note for the other fifty per cent. It was 
expected that the profits would cancel these notes. Instead, they accu- 
mulated at compound interest. Governor Randolph once put insur- 
ance experts to work upon the case, with the result that the company 
cancelled all outstanding notes and gave a $12,000 policy instead of the 
original policy for $20,000. But the notes began again, and at his 
death his estate received $7,400. He had paid in over $18,000. It 
would have been supposed that one of the old line standard companies 
would have given its earliest patrons the benefit of the more liberal 
principles of modern policies. 



The Anniversaries. 



355 



Disappointed in this direction, he sought to accomplish the 
same result — at least in part — by getting an assistant or 
associate in his pastorate. His congregation were ready 
to aid him in this, and he sought long and anxiously for 
the suitable man. He only found him the last year of his 
life. 

And so the toil went on, as he endeavored without assist- 
ance to fulfil the obligations of his large church, and to re- 
spond as far as possible to outside demands. 

One of the most remarkable peculiarities of this time was 
the way in which he spent his summer vacations. With all 
his love of foreign travel, with all the opportunities open to 
him of visiting charming homes, and the attractive resorts of 
Virginia — at almost any one of which he was cordially wel- 
comed as the guest of the proprietors — he spent his vacations 
year after year supplying pulpits in cities as hot as his own. 
The week he spent as he pleased, and on Sunday preached to 
overflowing congregations at the time when "everybody is 
out of town." 

Three summers he spent this way in Baltimore at the 
Brown Memorial and Associate Reformed Churches, and one 
in Milwaukee ; and why did a man over seventy thus spend 
himself? That he might add two or three hundred dollars 
to the four or five hundred that he contributed out of his 
income to the benevolent causes of the church ! Shame upon 
the Christians with their hundred thousands and millions of 
the Lord's money, that the causes of the kingdom should be 
in such need as to require such sacrifices ! 

Of this summer work he wrote to Dr. Sample, of New 
York (November i, 1892) : 

I was never more thoroughly well than I am this autumn, 
although I worked steadily through the entire summer 
without a day's rest. It was the hottest summer, too, 
known for many years. 

I had to go to Bridgeton, N. J., on the 20th of July to 
deliver a centennial oration. It was a day of the most 



356 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



intense heat, so statisticians assure us, for twenty-one years. 
I spoke in a grove to two or three thousand people in the 
afternoon, the mercury marking one hundred and one de- 
grees, and made my oration at night in the church, but do 
not know what record the thermometer made of the temper- 
ature. It exceeded anything I ever experienced, and when 
I returned to my room at the hotel, I sat most of the night 
in the window, sucking lemons and drinking ice-water. I 
passed the ordeal, however, so well that I am converted to 
the theory of evolution from the lower animals, and think 
that one of my great ancestors was a salamander. 

While Dr. Hoge was so busy serving others he was 
equally anxious to secure from others, for the benefit of his 
own people, the results of special studies out of his own line 
of work. He became much interested in Dr. W. W. Moore's 
popular discussions of the ancient monuments and the light 
recent investigations threw upon the biblical record, and 
urged Dr. Moore to deliver several of these lectures in his 
church — which he did, with the delightful effect that always 
follows his work. The same studies were afterwards em- 
bodied in his lectures on the Stone foundation at Princeton. 

Somewhat earlier he had been interested in Dr. Sample's 
lectures on "Beacon Lights of the Reformation." Early in 
1 89 1 they exchanged pulpits, and Dr. Hoge wrote of the 
great interest of his people in the sermons of his friend. Dr. 
Sample published a letter, giving his impressions of Rich- 
mond and of Dr. Hoge's church. Referring to a remark in 
this letter, Dr. Hoge wrote: 

I noticed that in your published letter you touched on a 
peculiarity I could never explain, and which, I am told, our 
physicians sometimes comment on — my ability to sustain 
long protracted labor without fatigue. Well, a few Sun- 
days ago, I had preached in the morning, had a funeral in 
my church at two p. m v and another funeral at three p. m., 
after which I went to Hollywood to the burial, and as I 
could not get back by four o'clock, Dr. Fair preached for 
me at that hour, and I preached for him in return for the 



The Anniversaries. 



357 



favor, at eight p. m. I never felt fresher than I did that 
night after I came home. I read until twelve o'clock, and 
got up the next morning at seven o'clock, without the 
slightest physical reminder that I had done any work the 
previous day. The following Friday, I had three funeral 
services to conduct, one at ten a. m., the second at twelve 
M. and the third at four p. m., and on Saturday composed 
both of my sermons (such as they were) for Sunday, 
having been so occupied all the week with executive work 
that I had no possible chance for study until Saturday. 
Whenever I have a special pressure o'f work on hand I do 
not hesitate to sit up until three or four o'clock in the 
morning, and then I always rise at seven. I note what you 
say about the bow suddenly snapping at last. I have no 
objections to its coming that way. 

At length the five busy years had rolled around. The 
bow had not snapped, and Dr. Hoge was as vigorously at 
work as ever. The congregation was now face to face with 
its fiftieth anniversary. Had his friends known that he 
would be spared to them, they would probably have de- 
ferred until now the celebration of five years ago ; but now 
this jubilee must be celebrated and that demonstration sur- 
passed. In its own line it could not be excelled, so this must 
be made different. There is no need for formal speeches 
now — the eulogies of the former celebration are fresh in 
people's minds, and have been put on permanent record. 
This time let the people speak. Throw the doors wide, that 
all may have a chance to greet him ! But he must be heard. 
Some of the wealth of reminiscence stored in his heart and 
memory must be given out and placed on record. 

For the first — the public reception — the most spacious and 
suitable place was the Masonic Temple; but there was a 
hitch. The constitution did not permit its free use for any 
but Masons, and yet its officers felt unwilling to charge rent 
for such a use ; but the difficulty was soon gotten over. The 
Masons themselves paid the rent and tendered the use of the 



358 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



building to the church. All the arrangements were made by 
the ladies of the church, who extended a universal invita- 
tion, besides special invitations to persons at a distance. 
After a banquet, to which Dr. Hoge sat down with his 
family, the clergy and some invited guests, came the public 
reception. The hours announced were from eight to ten, but 
it was found impracticable to restrict it, and it lasted until 
twelve, in which time Dr. Hoge had shaken hands with ten 
thousand people. It was a testimonial such as is paid to few 
persons not holding high civil or military office. "It was," 
as was said at the time, "a grand civic and military demon- 
stration that would be unique in the history of any city and 
State — a concentering of all creeds, all classes, all profes- 
sions," proclaiming Dr. Hoge, as many said, to be the "first 
citizen of Virginia." 

Some of the special incidents of the evening were thus 
described at the time : 

The first impressive formal function of the reception was 
the passing in review before Dr. Hoge of a delegation of the 
veterans of Lee Camp Soldiers' Home, headed by the com- 
mandant, Captain Charles P. Bigger. As the veterans 
marched past, each gave the Doctor a hearty handshake, and 
one of them presented him, on behalf of the Board of the 
Home, with a handsome bouquet, while another handed him, 
as a testimonial from the inmates, a large silk handker- 
chief, bearing in embroidery the State and the Confederate 
colors. 

A few minutes later, the ladies of the Hollywood Memo- 
rial Association entered the hall in a body, and after they had 
been grouped in a semi-circle in front of the canopy, Mr. 
Joseph Bryan, speaking for them, presented Dr. Hoge with 
a superb gold-lined silver berry bowl. The bowl is a unique 
and artistic example of the silversmith's art. The sides are 
fluted, and rise to a rim of repousse open work, and on the 
bottom of the testimonial is this inscription : 



The Anniversaries. 



359 



REVEREND MOSES D. HOGE, D. D., 

FROM 

The Ladies of the Hollywood Memorial Association, 

In loving remembrance of his devotion to the Confederate cause, and 
in grateful appreciation of his valuable assistance to them in 
perpetuating the memory of the Confederate dead. 

February 26, 1S95. 

Judge E. C. Minor held the bowl, and, in performing the 
office of presentation, Mr. Bryan said : 

Dr. Hoge: No exercises in commemoration of your 
labors in behalf of the cause of Christ, and for the good of 
your fellow-men, could be complete if a recognition of your 
services to the Confederate soldiers were omitted. 

I shall not attempt to recite them., but I doubt, sir, if in 
the retrospect of your life, your memory will recall any 
events with sweeter or sadder satisfaction than those in 
which it was your mission to look in the pale, wan face of 
the dying soldier, and commend his soul to the God who 
gave it ; and afterwards piously, and with sacred service, 
to lay his body, cold in death, within the bosom of our 
mother earth. While this, sir, has been no uncommon ex- 
perience with you, I vouchsafe to say that it was a service 
you never rendered without a renewed sense of its sacred- 
ness, and a fresh glow of patriotic devotion to your State 
and her noble defendants kindling in your heart. 

To the ladies of the Hollywood Memorial Association 
was committed the holy trust of keeping green, to the living 
eye, the turf that wraps the clay of those, our never-to-be- 
forgotten heroes. 

The members of this association, sir, since its first organ- 
ization, nearly thirty years ago, have always felt that in you 
they had a true and tried, and strong friend. They have 
never felt that they were imposing anything but a duty 
gladly done when they have asked your counsel or your 
aid, and freely has it been asked, and as freely has it been 
given. 

On this occasion, sir, they desire to unite with others of 
your friends to congratulate you on this anniversary of the 
commencement of your notable life in this city, but they 
desire especially to pay a tribute of love and gratitude to 



360 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



you for your services to the Confederate soldiers, and to 
the guardians of their graves, the Hollywood Memorial 
Association. 

As individuals they have united to procure, and they 
now desire me to present to you, this silver bowl as a mark 
of their esteem and gratitude. 

You have, sir, been spared the labor and sorrow which is 
the usual lot of those who have passed three score years 
and ten, but "underneath you were the everlasting arms." 
May you, like the great prophet of Israel, live on with your 
eye undimmed and your natural strength unabated, until 
there comes 

"Sunset and evening star, 
And one clear call for thee, 
And may there be no moaning of the bar 
When you put out to sea. 

" And though from out our bourn of time and place 
The flood may bear thee far, 
You'll see your pilot face to face 
When you have crossed the bar." 

In accepting the bowl and responding to Mr. Bryan, Dr. 
Hoge said : 

My Dear Mr. Bryan : This is one of the most delight- 
ful surprises of this memorable evening. Had I anticipated 
such an honor as the gathering of these ladies of the Holly- 
wood Memorial Association, and the presentation of their 
beautiful gift in words as kind as those you have addressed 
to me, I surely would have tried, at least, to frame some 
response worthy of the occasion ; but you must take what 
springs spontaneously from my heart, deeply moved as I 
am by this token of regard from an association which we 
have all learned to appreciate as one of the noblest ever 
formed, both in its character and purposes. 

There are many renowned cemeteries in the world, which 
attract travellers from all lands, because of the immortal 
dead who have found their last resting places within their 
enclosures, but there is one cemetery, the very mention of 
which awakens our tenderest memories, and which is 
endeared to us by the most sacred associations. 

In Hollywood are to be found the stately monuments of 



The Anniversaries. 



361 



some of the great leaders of our Confederate struggle; 
upon the shafts which rise above them are engraved the 
inscriptions which tell us of their courage, their patriotism, 
and sublime devotion to duty ; but what shall I say of the 
wind-swept hill, where we find what we call the "Soldiers' 
Section," where lie whole battalions of the men who sleep 
in lowly graves, unmarked by stately shafts covered with 
memorial epitaphs ? I will say this : but for the heroic 
.and self-sacrificing spirit of the patriotic privates who 
fought in the ranks, there never would have risen over the 
dust of the great leaders to whom I have referred, the 
sculptured monuments which celebrate their deeds and 
-perpetuate their fame. 

It has been owing to the untiring efforts of the ladies of 
the Hollywood Memorial Association, that the remains of 
the fallen Confederate soldiers have been gathered from 
all the battle-fields, from Manassas to Gettysburg, that they 
might have their final resting places side by side, even as 
during life, they marched together, fought together, and 
together fell on the field of their fame and glory. 

My honored friend, you have not exaggerated my admi- 
ration for the Confederate soldier. When I meet one of the 
•old battle-scarred veterans on the street, as I extend my 
hand to grasp his, sometimes the expected hand is not 
placed in mine. His good right arm was shattered in the 
fight. He now wears an empty sleeve. The empty sleeve ! 
The sight of that empty sleeve makes my heart full. I 
salute that sure credential, bearing its mute testimony to the 
fact that he, at least, has done his duty. 

I have not made a response worthy of your congratula- 
tion, or of the splendid testimonial of the Ladies' Memorial 
Association, which I will ever value for its intrinsic beauty, 
and still more because of the inscription it bears, for which 
I shall be forever grateful. 

When the members of the association had withdrawn, 
R. E. Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans, of which Dr. Hoge 
is an honorary member, paid their respects to him in a body, 
and immediately after that organization came the Board 
of Managers of the congregation of Beth Ahaba, which is 
constituted of Messrs. Moses Millhiser, president; N. W. 



362 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Nelson, vice-president; William Lovenstein, secretary; Ju- 
lius Straus, treasurer; Isaac Held, financial secretary; 
Jacob May, E. Gunst, Isaac Thalhimer, E. Bottigheimer, 
Jacob Edel, and Israel Stern. 

These gentlemen were present to perform one of the most 
interesting ceremonies of the evening, which was opened by 
Senator Lovenstein stepping forward and saying: 

Dr. Hoge : We are here as the Board of Managers of the 
Congregation Beth Ahaba of this city to present to you the 
resolutions adopted by the board, and which are not only 
expressive of their sentiments, but of those of every mem- 
ber of our congregation. We can assure you, my dear sir, 
that while we are representatives of another faith, there are 
no citizens of this city who more heartily join in congratu- 
lations to you on having reached the fiftieth year of the 
pastorate of your church, and are proud of being residents 
of the same city which you have graced so long with your 
many acts of kindness, love, and affection. I cannot at this 
time detain this vast concourse who desire to pay their re- 
spects to you, but as we have expressed in those resolutions, 
we wish you many more years of usefulness and honor in 
this community. 

The resolutions are exquisitely engrossed on parchment 
and inclosed in a massive natural wood hand-carved frame 
overlaid with gold leaf. They read : 

Richmond, Va., February 26, 1895. 
The Board of Managers of Congregation Beth Ahaba 
deem it a pleasure and a duty alike to give expression to the 
sentiments of its members on the occasion of the fiftieth 
anniversary of the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Moses Drury 
Hoge. 

It is by the infinite grace of God that Dr. Hoge has been 
permitted to fill out fifty years of pastorate, and with one 
congregation, the Second Presbyterian congregation of the 
city of Richmond. Though connected with one congrega- 
tion, Dr. Hoge belongs to all men. The half century of his 
ministry has been filled with earnest and fruitful work, 
done in the service of God and for the happiness of man, 



The Anniversaries. 



363 



through all which time the distinguished jubilate, while 
never for a moment untrue to his own convictions, yet has 
so served the community at large, that the followers of all 
faiths have enjoyed the fruits of his scholarship, his. 
eloquence, his broad and generous sympathy; and it is 
hereby 

Resolved, That Congregation Beth Ahaba most heartily 
joins in the jubilee celebration given in honor of Rev. Dr. 
M. D. Hoge, through its Board of Managers gives voice 
to its appreciation of the noble and unceasing labor which 
Dr. Hoge has performed, not only for his own congrega- 
tion, but for the city of Richmond. 

Resolved, That it tenders to Dr. Hoge this expression of 
these sentiments, with the heartfelt wishes for his continued 
health and strength, and the deep and earnest prayer that 
he may be spared for many, many years to prosecute the 
noble work in which- he is engaged. 

Edward N. Calisch, Rabbi, 
Moses Millhiser, President, 
William Lovenstein, Secretary, 
Isaac Held, 
Jacob Edel, 

Committee. 




Dr. Hoge was visibly touched by this tribute from his 
Jewish friends and fellow-citizens, and responded to Senator 
Lovenstein's address as follows : 

My Honored Friends : It is not only personally gratify- 
ing to me that one with whom I have so long had such 
pleasant relations, should be the organ of the Congregation 
of Beth Ahaba in presenting their congratulations and kind 
wishes, but I regard it as a high compliment that they 
should be tendered to me by one who has himself been 
honored for so many years by our fellow-citizens with posi- 
tions of high trust and responsibility, and who has so faith- 
fully discharged the duties entrusted to him as to merit the 
confidence and appreciation of our whole people. 

I assure you that these testimonials of the esteem of the 
congregation you represent have deeply touched my heart, 
and will be a memory to be cherished by me to the end of 
life. 



3<H 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



You have been pleased to state that the resolutions of 
respect and affection adopted by your board come from the 
representatives of a faith different from my own, but allow 
me to assure you that this makes the compliment all the 
greater, and gives me a stronger reason for appreciating it. 

In my travels over the world, I have visited many of the 
great libraries, which contain the accumulated treasure of 
the world's best thought, but in each library I have found 
one book which is filled from beginning to end with the 
histories, the prophecies, the psalms, and the epistles com- 
posed by Jewish authors. These are the writers who 
have made the most ineffaceable mark on the mind and 
heart of the world, and who have been the sources of those 
divine influences which have contributed most largely to 
the world's true progress. 

In accepting the testimonial you have so kindly pre- 
sented, be assured that it will have a conspicuous place in 
my house, and will form one of the most valued of my 
family treasures. 

Ere this ceremony was over, the military, consisting of the 
First Regiment, the Howitzers, the Stuart Horse Guard and 
the Blues, had arrived, and were endeavoring to make their 
way into the building, and through the dense crowd. 

Dr. Hoge stood the ordeal of hand-shaking wonderfully, 
and had a word for each one presented. 

Gradually an avenue was opened through the great throng, 
and the military review which followed was one of the most 
attractive features of the reception. The color guard of the 
First Regiment, of which regiment Dr. Hoge was chaplain, 
formed around him, their flags drooping over him, and to 
the roll of the drums the march past began. First came 
Brigadier-General Phillips and staff, and the field officers 
of the cavalry and artillery in irregular order ; next Colonel 
Jones and staff, and then the line officers and men. This 
scene, as witnessed from the gallery of the Grand Lodge 
room, was indeed inspiring. 

The Governor, accompanied by the resident members of 
his staff in full uniform, Colonel C. O'B. Cowardin, chief of 



The Anniversaries. 



365 



staff ; Colonel John S. Harwood, Colonel Fred Pleasants, 
General Charles J. Anderson, Colonel Jo. Lane Stern, and 
Colonel C. E. Wingo, formally paid his respects to Dr. 
Hoge. In speaking of the reception after it was over, Gov- 
ernor O'Ferrall said it was the grandest affair of its charac- 
ter he had ever witnessed. 

As soon as both the individual visitors and organizations 
had greeted Dr. Hoge, they moved up-stairs to the Grand 
Banquet Hall, where the refreshments for the general public 
were served from tables arranged around the walls. Here 
also the white and the gold predominated in the matter of 
decorations. The tables were six in number, and, though 
the banquet hall was at all times densely crowded, all comers 
received careful attention and a plenteous repast. 

The music was furnished by the Howitzers' Band, and alt 
the details of the affair were managed with consummate 
judgment. There is no question that the occasion was made 
one of the most remarkable demonstrations that have ever 
occurred in any city. It has been well said that it rises to 
the plane of an event in the history of the commonwealth. 
It has also been well said that it would have been futile to 
attempt a list even of the most prominent persons present. 

The reception took place on February 26th, the day before 
the anniversary. The next morning early, delegations began 
to call with special gifts or addresses — purses of gold from 
the gentlemen of the church and from the Ladies' Benevolent 
Society; an engrossed address from the Hoge Memorial 
Church, a marvel of elegance and taste; a gold travelling 
clock from the Church of the Covenant ; besides many per- 
sonal gifts on this his "golden anniversary." 

For the memorial service that evening there was no place 
but his church. A larger audience could have been accommo- 
dated in the Academy, where the former celebration was 
held, but one would have missed the atmosphere of hallowed 
memory with which the church was redolent. The only 



366 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



setting for that discourse was the church and pulpit where 
for fifty years he had proclaimed the everlasting gospel. 

One felt, as they heard Dr. Hoge that night, that the five 
years since he had stood before the audience in the Academy 
had left their impress. Something of the fire was gone; 
something of the ringing trumpet tone in the voice ; some- 
thing of the vigor of form and of gesture. Instead, there 
had come something not less beautiful ; a chastened mellow- 
ness, like the soft beauty of Indian Summer ; a beauty only 
less than that of spring-time, because we know that so soon 
"Death and Winter" must ' 'close the Autumn scene." 

The address is given in full in the Appendix, 1 but we 
must close our chapter with its closing words : 

And now, my friends, this memorial service is ended. 
How can I sufficiently express my gratitude to the thou- 
sands who have come to celebrate this golden wedding, 
with such unanimity and cordiality. I call it my golden 
wedding because fifty years ago I was united in holy bonds 
with this church. I was then in the springtime of life, hope- 
ful and expectant. It was a spring followed by a glowing 
summer. The summer has been succeeded by a golden au- 
tumn, enriched by the fruits of the Divine favor, all the 
more precious because all unmerited. Since the first year 
of my betrothal to this church I have seen many and great 
changes — changes in the church, changes in the city, 
changes in the country, and in the world ; but there is one 
change which I never saw ; I have seen no change in the 
abounding love and care of One who is "the same yester- 
day, to-day and forever." I stand here to testify, as I 
never could so gratefully before, that amidst all the vicissi- 
tudes of mortal life, "His loving kindness changes not !" 

And, now, in the possession of a common faith in one 
Lord, and in the hope of one heaven of harmony and love, 
let us ascribe to Him, as is most due, all honor and blessing 
and glory, evermore. Amen. 

J Page 471. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Closing Years. 



1895 — 1899. 



"The clouds that gather round the setting sun 
Do take a sober coloring from an eye 
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality ! 
Another race hath been, and other palms are won. 



— Wordsworth. 



HE live years between Dr. Hoge's two great anniver- 



1 saries had been filled with reminders that the shadows 
were lengthening towards the evening. Dr. William Brown; 
for seventeen years a member of his household, had come to 
the grave in a full age. Colonel B. S. Ewell, a friend from his 
youth ; Colonel Ewell's brother, Dr. William Stoddert, a man 
of rare genius and of almost unparalleled self-sacrifice ; Dr. 
Leyburn, who had preached his ordination sermon, and whose 
funeral he conducted; Dr. Henry C. Alexander, his heredi- 
tary friend, who had made the opening prayer at his forty- 
fifth anniversary; Dr. John A. Broadus, with whom he had 
been for years associated on the International Lesson Com- 
mittee; had one by one passed from earth and been com- 
memorated by his sympathetic pen. In 1893 he visited his 
sister, Mrs. Marquess, at the home of her son-in-law, the 
Rev. A. A. Wallace, in Mexico, Mo. Mr. Wallace was the 
successor of Dr. Stoddert, and while there Dr. Hoge took a 
mournful pleasure in visiting the grave of a man whom he 
deeply loved. During the same visit he met a son of the Rev. 
Thomas Watson, of Dardenne, the friend of his boyhood. 
A visit was at once arranged to the father, with whom he 
spent a delightful day. In a short time he, too, was gone. 
Mrs. Marquess, who was run in the same heroic mould as 
himself, was showing plainly the marks of declining years. 
She lived to pay him one more visit in Richmond, and sur- 




3 68 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



vived him a little over six weeks, retaining her fortitude 
and strength of character to the last. 1 

But Dr. Hoge, notwithstanding these reminders, could not 
feel that he was growing old. There was, perhaps, less of 
bodily vigor, but there were none of the infirmities of age. 
His step was as elastic, his figure in the pulpit or on horse- 
back as erect, his capacity for work, and readiness to under- 
take it, apparently as inexhaustible as ever. Youth and hope 
were in his heart, and he looked upon the dates that made 
him old with a kind of resentment, as accusing him of that of 
which he was not guilty. His only ailment continued to be 
the occasional attacks of lumbago or sciatica, to which he 
had long been subject. In answer to a letter of solicitude 
after one of these attacks, he wrote : 

Alexandria, January 10, i8q6. 

My Dear Peyton : Your kind letter of the 8th instant 
was received just as I was leaving home for this place, and 
I brought it with me to answer it here. 

I am much obliged for your solicitude about me and 
your suggested provision for my relief. 

It would be ungrateful in me to complain because about 
once in three years I am seized with lumbago — my only 
ailment — and that at such intervals. I never had a cold 
or a headache in my life, and no serious illness of any kind 
since I lived in Richmond. 

I had not quite sufficiently recovered from my lameness 
to come here, but I had promised, more than two months 
ago, to address the Ladies' Missionary Society at its anni- 
versary, and so made the experiment of the little journey. 
I left Richmond at twelve m., and was to speak at three- 
thirty (early enough to allow the country members of the 
society to get home before dark), and so was driven directly 
to the church from the station and reached it exactly on 
time. 

It was the largest audience of ladies that I ever ad- 
dressed. At night I spoke to a general audience, and am to 

1 She died February 22, 1899, and in the interval after her brother's 
death, in spite of great physical suffering, furnished important material 
for this biography. 



Closing Years. 



369 



preach to-night and twice on Sunday. Mr. Rice will sup- 
ply my pulpit on that day. 

I hope you all keep well. I know you keep busy. You 
would not be a member of our family if you did not. 

I noticed in a paper that Cousin James Brookes had re- 
signed his pastoral charge, but no reason was assigned. I 
fear it was because of impaired health. 

Suppose you and I ( !) agree never to get old, and never 
to become infirm. Affectionately yours, 

Moses D. Hoge. 

Not long afterwards Dr. Brookes went to meet his 
Lord. 

It was with some misgivings that Dr. Hoge's family and 
friends saw him go abroad that summer to attend the Glas- 
gow Council of the Presbyterian Alliance. He was now 
nearly seventy-eight years old, and though his natural force 
was not abated, and his bow still abode in strength, the sud- 
den snapping of the bow, which Dr. Sample had feared, and 
for which he had expressed himself ready, might come at 
any time. 

But it proved to be in every respect the most delightful 
and successful of his voyages. Arrived in Glasgow he found 
Lord Kelvin's jubilee in progress. In 1863 he had been in 
the same city at the time of Lord Palmerston's address as 
Lord Rector of the University. He had just arrived, and it 
seemed impossible to get a ticket, when opening his mail he 
found one enclosed in a note from a friend, saying that he 
was just leaving town and could not use it. Would he have 
the same experience now ? It seemed not. The demand for 
tickets was too great; but he had just called a cab to drive 
out to the university to try his chances, when he saw a pro- 
fessional looking man passing by. He accosted him and 
asked him if he could tell him how he could secure a ticket. 
"Why, yes," he said, "I have one at home, which I am un- 
able to use on account of a professional engagement. If you 
will go with me to my house, I will give it to you with pleas- 
ure." "Well, just get with me into my cab," said Dr. Hoge, 



370 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



"and direct the driver where to go." So with his 
usual good fortune he witnessed this function of surpassing 
interest. 

In the council itself he was one of the most marked figures, 
as he had been nineteen years before in Edinburgh. His 
principal address was at an evening session devoted to the 
Educative Influence of Presbyterianism. Dr. McEwan 
spoke of its Influence on the Individual, Dr. Robertson on 
the Family, Dr. Stalker on Social Life, and Dr. Hoge on 
National Life. He began by saying : 

A nation is but a congeries of families, and what the 
family is, the nation will be. Among the ancient classic 
republics there was much that was admirable in law, much 
that was entrancing in song, much that was profound in 
philosophy, but the fatal defect was their amazing uncon- 
sciousness of the value of childhood. The fairest land of 
the Muse, "the Mother of arts and of eloquence," had no 
conception of the capacity of childhood for moral develop- 
ment. She could take the Parian marble and chisel it into 
such forms of life and beauty that, when we look at it, h 
seems to breathe and love and weep. She could make the 
marble melt and seem to dissolve into tears, but her own 
heart never melted with such tenderness as the humblest 
mother of the Scotch Kirk feels for the child that she 
knows belongs more to God than to herself. Under the 
great dome of the sky I do not believe there are any sur- 
passing our Presbyterian mothers in the faithful training of 
their children to walk in the right ways of the Lord, nor do 
I believe that there are any who have influences transcend- 
ing those of Presbyterian households in preparing children 
to become good citizens both of the country and of the 
kingdom of Christ. 

Under such parental training the illustrious men were 
reared whose names received such honorable mention by 
the speaker who preceded me ; and, I may add, the men of 
generations before them, who stood like lights and land- 
marks on the shores of time ; men whose achievements re- 
mind us of the illustrious worthies mentioned in the 
eleventh chapter of Hebrews, every verse of which is a 
hero's monument. 



Closing Years. 



37i 



He closed his address as follows : 

In conclusion, allow me to say that I know of nothing 
more astounding than the statement often made by flippant 
writers and unscrupulous speakers that Calvinism is losing 
its hold on the moral convictions of mankind. . . . The 
allegation appears in magazines, in popular novels and in 
the comic journals which are read by thousands. The 
comic journal is the best place for these misrepresentations, 
for none of the jokes or pictures contained in them are 
half so comic as the charge that Calvinism is well-nigh 
extinct. It would be laughable, only one does not like to 
laugh at what you call in Scotland — a "lee." The calumny 
continues, however, to be repeated, although the churches 
holding the Calvinistic faith constitute, at this very time, 
the largest body of orthodox believers in the world, and 
although Calvinism is steadily gaining adherents in de- 
nominations hitherto of Arminian tendency. 

The death of our old Calvinistic mother has been fre- 
quently announced, and her funeral oration pronounced. 
Well, the death of a mother is a great event in the lives of 
her children. A minister in my own country says, "When 
we came to lay our mother in the grave, one of us said to a 
friend at his side, 'We will remember the works that will 
follow her.' 'What works?' asked the friend to whom he 
spoke. He replied, 'She bore ten sons and trained them all 
for Christ. We are all standing around her grave to bless 
God that she ever lived.' " 

Mr. President, fathers and brethren, we, too, bless God 
for our dear old Presbyterian mother, who has borne ten 
thousand times ten thousand children and trained them 
all for Christ ; but we are not standing around her grave ! 
We rejoice that she is still a living mother — her eye not 
dim, nor her spiritual force abated, and when our de- 
scendants are as near the close of the twentieth century as 
we are to the end of the nineteenth, another council will 
meet to celebrate her virtues and her works in strains of 
adoring gratitude compared with which our utterances to- 
night are cold and poor. 



Dr. W. W. Moore, who was present, speaks of the subject 
as calling forth Dr. Hoge's best gifts, and handled "with his 
customary ease and vigor :" 



37 2 Moses Drury Hoge. 

He was warmly received by the council whenever he 
appeared. He spoke several times, once in presenting a 
handsome gavel to President Roberts at the close of the 
sessions, and once at Lord Overtoun's garden party,, 
where he told the story of the American who said his coun- 
try was "bounded on the north by the north pole, on the 
east by sunrise, on the west by sunset, and on the south by 
the equator, and as much further as you want to;" and 
then proceeded felicitously to contrast the smallness of 
Great Britain and the greatness of the men she produced. 

Dr. Hoge preached for Dr. Drummond during the coun- 
cil, and in London for Dr. Donald McLeod, at St. Colum- 
ba's Church — the church attended by the Duke of Argyle 
and other Scotch noblemen during their residence in 
London. 

Socially this visit to Great Britain was of the greatest in- 
terest to Dr. Hoge. He was always more interested in 
people than in things. He had long been under promise to 
visit Mr. Bayard, and Mr. and Mrs. Bayard did everything^ 
to make his visit delightful and memorable. In a letter to 
his nephew he wrote : 

Richmond, October 28, 1S96. 

My Dear Peyton : I was very glad to receive your 
greeting ana" welcome home. 

No matter how pleasant a visit abroad may have been, 
the return always brings joy and thankfulness with it. 

My last was my ninth visit to Europe, and although I 
did not go beyond the British Isles, it was the flower and 
crown of all my trips. 

The outward and the return voyages were both so pleas- 
ant that for the first time in my life I was sorry to see land, 
and would have preferred a week longer on water. 

During my stay in London, for ten days I was the guest 
of Mr. Bayard. Several months ago he wrote asking me to 
make him a visit while he was in office, and my appoint- 
ment as a delegate to the Glasgow Council enabled me to- 
accept his invitation, well knowing what advantages it 
would give me in the way of introduction to a sphere 
usually unapproachable to visitors from this country. 



Closing Years. 



373 



When I was on my way to London, I determined not to 
ask Mr. Bayard to take me to a single place or introduce 
me to a single person, lest in some way it might embarrass 
him, but to leave all that to the friendship he had shown me 
for so many years. I was sure his purpose was to make my 
stay with him memorable, and I can truly say he surpassed 
all my expectations. Every day he devised something for 
my entertainment and benefit. 

During one of Mrs. Bayard's receptions, I had my first 
contact with the people with whom her social position as 
wife of the ambassador places her on an equality. She 
could not have a higher position, for the Queen frequently 
invites Mr. Bayard and herself to dine at Windsor Castle, 
riot to meet company, but because she likes them and enjoys 
their society. One day they took me to visit Lady Burdett- 
Coutts at her wonderful home on Highgate Hill — in a vast 
park, full of trees, in the seclusion so perfectly secured that 
not a glimpse of the city can be seen. We took our tea in 
an arbor on the lawn. She was one of the most interesting 
ladies with whom I met in England ; very old now, but a 
society woman still, with all her faculties brisk and bright, 
with exquisite courtesy of manners, and as philanthropic 
as ever. 

At a banquet I sat by Mr. Bayard with the Rt. Hon. Sir 
Richard Webster, Attorney-General of England, on one 
side, and the Hon. James Bryce, M. P., the distinguished 
historian, on the other. When Sir Richard learned that I 
spent a week with Mr. Benjamin as my room-mate during 
the last days of the Confederacy, he invited me to lunch 
with him at the House of Commons, a privilege I did not 
enjoy owing to some misunderstanding of the time. When 
Mr. Benjamin made his escape and went to London, Mr. 
Webster became quite intimate with him, and wanted to 
know what I could tell him of his old friend, and I will 
always be sorry that I missed the interview. 

The greatest favor Mr. Bayard did me was to take me 
with him to a great military review at Aldershot, given in 
honor of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of 
Boston. The English took advantage of the opportunity 
to pay the company the most marked attention, no doubt to 
show that, should there ever be any alienation between their 
country and ours, it would not be provoked by them. 



374 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



It was an occasion when many of the great commanders 
of the British army were together. I might have gone to 
London a hundred times without having such an opportu- 
nity. We went to Aldershot by a special train and arrived 
early, before the troops began to move and before the cere- 
monies of the day began, so that the commanders had 
ample time to receive their invited guests. 

The very first person Mr. Bayard introduced me to was 
the Duke of Connaught, Arthur, the third son of the Queen. 
He began a conversation with me at once in the most 
natural and pleasant way imaginable. He said, "You are 
the guest of Mr. Bayard, and we hold him in the highest 
regard in England." After talking awhile, he said, "You 
have had a dusty ride from London; I want to take you 
and Mr. Bayard to another building on the grounds, where 
you can be refreshed a little." We went a hundred yards 
or so, and when we reached the place, he took us into a 
room, telling us we could find water, towels, etc., and that 
he would send a man to brush our clothes. While walking 
across the field with him, he behaved precisely as any Vir- 
ginia gentleman would have done, intent on kindly hospi- 
tality. There was not a particle of assumption or reserve 
in his manner ; and here I may say I fancy that one reason 
men of high rank in England pay respect to those who 
come from the South is that we are not in the least embar- 
rassed, and have nothing fawning or obsequious in our 
manner or address, trained as we have been to value men 
according to their intellectual and moral worth, in accord- 
ance with the fine couplet of Burns — 

"The rank is but the guinea stamp, 
The man 's the gowd for a' that." 

No one would have quicker contempt for a toady than a 
nobleman, and no one would more readily place on an 
equality with himself a gentleman, who with all his respect 
and deference showed that he had respect for himself. 

My next introductions were to Adjutant-General Sir 
Redvers Henry Buller, and to Quartermaster-General Sir 
Evelyn Wood ; but what interested me still more was meet- 
ing with Field-Marshal General Wolseley. You are aware 
of the deep interest he took in our Confederate struggle, 
and of his intense admiration of Generals Lee and Jackson. 




1 m 






Closing Years. 



375 



He commenced the conversation by speaking of these illus- 
trious commanders whom he declared to be the first in 
military genius of all who had figured in the war between 
the States. He sent a message by me of kind regards to 
Mrs. Jackson, which I have taken pleasure in delivering. 
What gratified me especially was General Wolseley's invi- 
tation to ride back with him from Aldershot to London, 
which gave me the best opportunity I could have had for 
conversing with him. 

Another of the officers with whom I became acquainted 
was Lieutenant-General Havelock, son of the distinguished 
General Havelock, eminent for piety as for courage. I 
asked him if it was true, as had been reported, that his 
father had declared in the closing hours of his life that "for 
forty years he had tried so to live as to meet death without 
dismay," and he assured me that while holding his father 
in his arms he had uttered these memorable words. 1 

Some one sent me a ticket of admission to the Chapel 
Royal of St. James Palace on the Sunday when the son of 
the King of Denmark, who married the Queen's grand- 
daughter, was expected with his bride to be present at the 
services. 

As I approached the palace, I found the streets in the 
vicinity filled with people expecting to see the Prince and 
Princess pass on their way to the chapel. In common with 
the expectant crowd, I was disappointed, for I found that 
they had attended the early morning service and had taken 
the communion ; but who should have been the preacher on 
the occasion but the Rev. Harry Jones, with whom I 
travelled in Palestine ! When the service was over, I fol- 
lowed him into the vestry- room, where he was disrobing. 
He gave me a joyous greeting and begged me to go home 
with him. An engagement prevented me from accepting 

1 A little incident of Mr. Bayard's thoughtful consideration occurred 
during the banquet at Aldershot. Taking the blank back of a menu 
card, he got a number of the most distinguished persons present to 
write their names upon it, and handed it to Dr. Hoge, requesting him 
to take it to Miss Bessie Hoge. Dr. Hoge was conversing with General 
Havelock at the time, and his signature was not secured. He was 
ordered to India immediately after the review at Aldershot, and was 
killed a few minutes after arriving on the field of action. Dr. Hoge's 
name was written afterwards at his daughter's request. 



376 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



his invitation, but it was one of the strange coincidences, so 
often happening to me, that on the only day I ever entered 
that chapel I should have met my old friend who made such 
kindly mention of me in the volume he published about his 
tour in Palestine. 

After I left Mr. Bayard's hospitable home, I wrote him a 
letter, in which I tried to express my sense of his courtesy. 
The letter required no answer, but he wrote me in reply 
eight pages in which he assured me of his gratification of 
my appreciation of what he had done for me, and he ended 
his letter by saying that he would be "more content" if I 
would always make his house my home when I visited Lon- 
don, and that in case he should be absent, the servants 
would always be there to welcome me. The force of hospi- 
tality could no farther go. In no other instance was I ever 
equally assured of a welcome whether my host was at 
home or absent from it. 

Affectionately yours, Moses D. Hoge. 

Another of Dr. Hoge's most pleasant visits was to the 
Rt. Hon. Thomas Sinclair, P. C, at Belfast, in response to 
the following cordial note : 

Hopefield House, Belfast, 23 June, 1896. 

Dear Dr. Hoge : I got home the end of last week, and I 
see by the papers you are in full vigor at the council. 

I now write to remind you of your promise to visit me 
here before your return. My family are now at the sea- 
side, but we shall be home in July and August, and any 
time in either of those months would suit us for your visit. 
It will be a great pleasure for us to see you here. 

You will find our weather a good deal cooler than it was 
the Sunday we met at Richmond. 

I hope you have enjoyed the meetings of the council. 
They seem to have been very successful. 

Dr. Hall said he would consult with you about helping 
him out with a preaching engagement in Belfast. I am 
sure you will get splendid audiences here. 

With kind regards, and hoping to hear when you can 
come, I am ever, 

Very truly, Thomas Sinclair. 



Closing Years. 



377 



There was no city where Dr. Hoge was greeted with 
larger congregations than Belfast, or where the papers, espe- 
cially the staunch Belfast Witness, spoke more warmly of 
Tiis preaching. 

This visit was especially delightful. He regarded it as one 
of the blessings of his life to have "gained the friendship of 
a man so sincere, so spiritually minded, so disinterested, so 
affectionate," as Mr. Sinclair. While with Mr. Sinclair he 
attended a garden party at the magnificently situated castle 
•of the Countess of Shaftesbury, daughter-in-law of the good 
old Earl, now gone. 

When Dr. Hoge met with the accident that ended his life, 
one of the most cordial letters of sympathy he received was 
from Mr. Sinclair. Another was from Mrs. Bayard, writ- 
ten in the freshness of her own great loss, in which Dr. 
Hoge, with thousands upon both sides of the Atlantic, most 
•deeply sympathized. Just before returning to this country, 
Mr. Bayard had sent Dr. Hoge this graceful New Year's 
-greeting : 

Embassy of the United States, 

London, January i, 1897. 

My Dear Dr. Hoge: The New Year has opened, and 
the procession of humanity moves on. In a very few weeks 
I embark home, and I hope to take your friendly hand in 
mine during the year 1897. 

I put in this envelope a little diary for your vest pocket, 
and one for your good daughter. 

Mrs. Bayard and I join in affectionate salutations. 

I hope that my day of the calendar will be in- 
scribed with an added happiness, and I am sure that every 
day you will add to the happiness of some other — or 
many others. 

Believe me, dear Doctor, with affection and respect, 

Sincerely yours, T. F. Bayard. 

During this visit, Dr. Hoge was constantly pressed to 
write his reminiscences. Mr. Lawley was most urgent. Mr. 
"Sinclair wrote him just after he left his house, "You must 



378 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



perpetuate your reminiscences. Engage that type-writer at 
once when you go back." 

Mr. William Van Vleck Lidgerwood, an old friend of 
Governor Randolph's, with whom Dr. Hoge spent several 
days at his residence opposite the Albert Memorial, in Lon- 
don, wrote, "Now, dear Doctor, 'would you, could you, will 
you' write your reminiscences? Please enter my name for 
ten copies, one for each member of our family." Friends at 
home were equally solicitous, and a publisher stood ready- 
to pay twenty thousand dollars for the manuscript; but it 
was never done ; it was not even begun. Each day he did 
that which had to be done immediately, and to accomplish 
that he had to borrow time from rest. He was always in 
bondage to the present. 

Doubtless he was too yielding in suffering so many de- 
mands to be made upon his time. There was the Assembly's- 
Home and School, for example, the presidency of which he 
accepted after his fiftieth anniversary ; a noble and beautiful 
charity, in which his heart was profoundly interested; but 
it absorbed much of his valuable time, and when trouble 
came to it, he threw his whole soul into the work of sav- 
ing it. 

International arbitration was another subject to which he 
gave increasing attention. He was in constant communica- 
tion with the leaders of the movement, who depended largely 
on him for the cultivation of sentiment in the South, and 
he was always ready to labor for the cause with tongue 
or pen. 

In October, 1896, Princeton University, on the occasion 
of its sesqui-centennial, formally assumed the name and style 
of a university, to which its great equipment had long en- 
titled it. The occasion was made memorable by the con- 
ferring of academic honors upon men of this and other 
countries representative of what was best in university, re- 
ligious and public life. Dr. Hoge was one of those who 
received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He had recently 



Closing Years. 



379 



returned from the council in Glasgow, and pressing engage- 
ments prevented his attending the impressive function at 
which the degrees were conferred, but in his case, as in a few 
others, the degree was given in his absence. 

The last General Assembly attended by Dr. Hoge was in 
Charlotte, N. C, in 1897. He was a commissioner to the 
Assembly, and one of the speakers at the celebration of the 
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Westminster 
Confession. For this address, which was on the relation of 
Presbyterianism to Missions, he made his usual original and 
elaborate preparation, writing to specialists for the best 
books upon the subjects, and gathering from every source 
the facts upon which to base his argument. 1 His work in 
the Assembly was most laborious. He had thrown his whole 
soul into the work of the Assembly's Home and School, and 
had pledged his personal credit to sustain it when it became 
involved in debt. The trustees regarded the School as essen- 
tial to the Home. They held that it must be a high grade 
institution to give the proper educational advantages to the 
children of our missionaries and to the orphans of deceased 
ministers. In normal times the School had been a source 
of revenue, helping to support the Home. In the financial 
prostration of the preceding years it had brought the trustees 
into debt. The Assembly's Standing Committee maintained 
that the two should be separated, as it was no part of the 
Assembly's business to support a local educational institu- 
tion. Dr. Hoge spent laborious nights with the committee,, 
and in the Assembly plead for the institution with all the 
eloquence and pathos of a father pleading for his child. Had 
he been supported by any one equipped with the facts and 
figures to explain the financial status of the two branches of 
the work, his efforts might have been successful. As it was,, 
the Assembly decreed the separation, to Dr. Hoge's intense 
mortification. It is too soon to pronounce finally upon the 

1 The address is published in Westminster Addresses, Presbyterian 
Committee of Publication, Richmond, 1897. 



3 8o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



■wisdom of the Assembly's action. The board was able to 
make better arrangements than could have been anticipated 
for the education of the children committed to its care, but 
the enterprise has languished, the number of children cared 
for reduced, and the Training School for Women discon- 
tinued. The Home may yet have a useful and prosperous 
career, but the dream of its founders, in which the Home 
and School was to be a centre of missionary influences; to 
which returned missionaries could retire and be usefully em- 
ployed; where the children of missionaries could be still 
kept in association with the tongues and lands in which they 
were born, while receiving the best educational advantages 
of the home land ; where young women could receive train- 
ing in missionary work at the hands of those who had toiled 
in the foreign field, and where the orphan children of min- 
isters might be brought into contact with all these influences ; 
this dream seems now impossible of realization. 

In all other respects this Assembly was a source of great 
happiness to Dr. Hoge. The Westminster celebration 
brought together many of the fathers of the church. No- 
table among them was Dr. Dabney, whose eyes had lost the 
light of this world, but whose intellect was as vigorous and 
whose heart was as warm as in all the years of their life-long 
friendship. In less than a year Dr. Hoge stood beside his 
open grave, and said, with intense emotion, "It seems in- 
credible that all the life and power of that man have gone 
out of the world." 

In all his addresses at the Assembly, Dr. Hoge was lis- 
tened to with that fascinated attention which is given to 
those whom we fear we may not hear again. To some his 
eloquence was a memory of childhood or youth; to others 
it was a tradition received from fathers or mothers who had 
heard him in their youth ; to others it was only known by 
reputation. He was now standing close to the Psalmist's 
utmost limit, but the golden bowl was not broken nor the 
silver cord loosed. At the unveiling of the window in mem- 



Closing Years. 



381 



ory of the gifted and beloved Preston, the late pastor of the 
church; in his speeches on the Home and School; in his- 
Westminster address, and in a great sermon at the Second 
Church, where he held a vast congregation spell-bound for 
over an hour, he spoke with a pathos and power hardly ex- 
celled in his palmiest days. 

In the social circle he shone, as he always did. His home 
was with Mr. and Mrs. Chambers. Mrs. Chambers was a 
granddaughter of his uncle, Drury Lacy, and her mother, 
Mrs. Dewey, lived with her, carrying him back to his early- 
associations. Mrs. Dewey's brother, Dr. W. S. Lacy, was 
with them a part of the time, as was his nephew from Wil- 
mington. Dr. S. S. Laws 1 and Mrs. Laws, old friends of 
Dr. Hoge's, were also guests in the house. When the late re- 
turn was made from Assembly or committee and Mrs. Cham- 
bers brought out some refreshment, Dr. Hoge would lead the 
conversation into such happy and inviting fields that we 
would forget that a morrow must come, with its exacting 
round of duties, and would linger in the delightful circle far 
into the night. They were happy days, on which some of 
us, looking back, can only say, Et ego in Arcadia. 

The Southern celebration of the Westminster anniversary- 
attracted much attention throughout the Presbyterian 
brotherhood. A minister in the North wrote Dr. Hoge : 

Your address gave me an additional pleasure, by re- 
calling a day with Dean Stanley in the immortal abbey. I 
have his autograph written in the Jerusalem Chamber on 
the Revision Committee's table, which he assured me 
"looked as the Assembly's sessions might have left it." He 
was the most sympathetic eulogist of the Assembly I met in 
all England. 

The memorial is a splendid exhibit of scholarship, "elo- 
quence, literary finish and religious force. You have set 
our part of the church an example hard to match. 

1 When Dr. Hoge was in Fulton, Mo., to dedicate the church of his 
nephew, Dr. Marquess, Dr. Laws, who was then president of the State- 
University, drove over from Columbia and took Dr. Hoge back witb 
him to address the students. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



The following winter, Dr. Hoge's long-cherished desire 
for an assistant or associate in his pastoral charge was real- 
ized in the most unexpected way. The Rev. Donald Guthrie, 
a young Canadian minister, passing through Richmond in 
search of a Southern climate for his wife, brought letters of 
introduction to Dr. Hoge; among others, one from his 
uncle, the Rev. Principal MacVicar, of Montreal. Dr. Hoge 
invited him to preach for him, with the result described in 
his reply to Dr. Mac Vicar's letter : 

Richmond, January 20, 1898. 

My Dear Dr. MacVicar : I was greatly obliged to you 
for your letter regarding Mr. Guthrie. He has been with 
us two weeks and has preached twice for me on the Sab- 
bath and lectured on Wednesday night, making a very fa- 
vorable impression on our people each time. I have seen a 
good deal of him socially and like him more and more. 

For more than a year I have been looking for some 
young man of good scholarship, good address, and en- 
dowed with what, for want of a better phrase, we call the 
magnetic gift. If, in addition to these qualities, I can find 
a man of earnest piety and consecrated life, he will be the 
treasure I have sought. It may be that I have already 
found him in Mr. Guthrie. I have proposed to him to be- 
come my assistant for three months, with the privilege of 
withdrawing from the position at the end of either month, 
if he wishes to do so, and he has accepted the position. 

In this way our people will have the opportunity of be- 
coming acquainted with him as a minister and as a man, 
and by the expiration of the time of this engagement he can 
judge, whether he would probably be happy and useful 
among our people. 

If both parties should be pleased, I know of nothing to 
prevent the engagement from being a permanent one, and 
thus a desire I have long felt will be satisfied. Virginia 
being my native State and Richmond my home for more 
than fifty years, I have unwillingly become associated with 
so many enterprises, and am constrained to take part in so 
many public affairs, that as the years wear on, instead of 
finding repose with advancing time, my work becomes 
more arduous and exacting. I have been urged to write a 



Closing Years. 



383 



volume of reminiscences of men and events at home and 
abroad, and two or three other books, of one kind and an- 
other, but I can never accomplish these tasks until my 
labors are lightened, and in fact I could not have stood the 
strain to which I have been subjected but for the superb 
health with which I have been blessed. Now, if a good 
providence has sent Mr. Guthrie to my relief, I will be very 
grateful. At all events, I hope to have the refreshment of 
his help for three months. 

You have recalled to mind our pleasant meeting at the 
council in Glasgow, and the debate which followed your 
able address on "The Relations Between Theology and 
Philosophy." One sentence I particularly remember, when 
you said evolution could not account for the Nativity, the 
Resurrection, the Ascension, and the marvels of Pentecost. 

With great respect and regard, I remain, 

Yours most sincerely, Moses D. Hoge. 

So pleased were pastor and people with Mr. Guthrie's min- 
istrations that on May 8th a congregational meeting was 
held, at which he was unanimously called to be co-pastor 
with Dr. Hoge. 

This consummation, so devoutly wished by Dr. Hoge, 
while bringing him the needed relief, brought a new test to 
his character. The relation is a notoriously trying one. 
The more successful the experiment in one point of view, the 
severer the test; for old age is proverbially suspicious of 
being supplanted. A dying king rouses from the stupor of 
death to rebuke the heir-apparent for trying on the crown; 
but such an indiscretion is not needed to evoke the com- 
plaints of the querulous, or to awaken the jealousy of the 
suspicious. 

The happy relations that were maintained between Dr. 
Hoge and Mr. Guthrie were in great part due to Mr. 
Guthrie's own modesty, tact and good sense; in great part 
also to the unswerving devotion of the congregation and 
people of Richmond to Dr. Hoge, and their continued and 
unbounded delight in his ministrations. 

But of Dr. Hoge's own part in the formation and main- 



3§4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



tenance of these relations, Mr. Guthrie can speak best. In 
his sermon after Dr. Hoge's death, he said — what he had 
already said at the ministers' association : 

These relations were marked by absolute harmony. I 
cannot recall one difference of opinion upon the smallest 
detail of church work. Youth and age, inexperience and 
experience, sometimes find it hard to see eye to eye. Youth 
is inclined to be superficial and rash; and inexperience 
leads to many errors of judgment, and to utterances which, 
when not positively injurious, are often ludicrous. Some- 
times age is intolerant, and experience speaks in harsh 
tones. Your pastor in the fulness of the accumulated ex- 
perience of many years was neither harsh nor intolerant, 
but kindly and considerate. He neither commanded nor 
dictated ; but sought to lead me. It may sound strange to 
you to hear me say that never, in the whole course of our 
relations, did he ever tender me advice unasked. I sought 
his advice upon many matters, and upon such occasions it 
was given, cheerfully, sympathetically, fully and wisely. 
His attitude was not one of coldness or indifference, but 
one of gentle considerateness. Is not this the method of 
God himself towards his children, whereby he seeks to de- 
velop them? Like a mother teaching her child to walk — 
ready to help it to its feet should it stumble, ready to guide 
its footsteps when, in its uncertain efforts, it totters near 
dangerous places, always behind it with strong arms out- 
stretched; such was your pastor's attitude to me in my 
work in this congregation. 

Nor can I refrain from mentioning this fact, viz., he 
sought to improve my work by constant encouragement 
rather than by severe criticism. I have spoken personally 
with him about my labors, and he has spoken to others on 
the same topic, but never have I heard personally or 
through others, one word of discouraging criticism coming 
from his lips. I am humbly conscious that his trained eye 
saw many crudities and imperfections in my service ; but, 
noting them, he saw fit in his kindness to withhold mention 
of them. It was my custom on Sunday afternoons to call, 
before coming to the pulpit, at his house where he joined 
me ; and together we came to God's house. Many times I 
went into his parlor to wait for him, with an oppressive 



Closing Years. 



385 



consciousness that my sermon was far short of what it 
ought to and might have been; and at such times I was 
nervous and fearful at the thought of having to deliver it 
before him ; but he always had a stimulating word for me : 
that we could never tell before delivering it, how a sermon 
would prove ; that he had been remembering me in prayer 
at the throne of grace ; that he trusted that the Lord would 
grant me special "liberty" in the delivery of my message. 
When I succeeded, he rejoiced in my success; when I 
failed, he had no word of censure for my failure. 

It is remarkable how closely this testimony conforms to 
that which Dr. Hoge often gave of Dr. Plumer's relations to 
himself ; and what Mr. Guthrie testifies others can confirm. 
In his own family, in his going in and out among his people, 
and in his intercourse with the outside world, Dr. Hoge 
never lost an opportunity of speaking a kind word of his 
young associate, and never uttered a word of unkindness, 
or damned with faint praise. 

The relief came just in time; too late, indeed, for the ac- 
complishment of Dr. Hoge's purpose of authorship; but 
just in time to lift the burden from his shoulders before he 
fell beneath it. In May he preached several times to the 
Virginia troops at "Camp Lee" — strangely renewing at the 
last the experiences of nearly forty years before. In June 
he went as usual to the commencement at Hampden-Sidney, 
as referred to earlier in this history. 1 But a slow fever set 
in from a complication of maladies; or, as many feared, 
from, a giving w T ay of the vital forces. Early in July he 
went to the White Sulphur Springs, where he was attended 
by his devoted friend, Dr. Hunter McGuire, by his son, Dr. 
Stuart McGuire, and by his own son, Dr. Moses D. Hoge, 
Jr. He was tenderly nursed by his two daughters, and by 
his nephew, Professor Addison Hogue. 2 His sufferings were 

1 Page 39. 

2 During one of Dr. Hoge's trips to the old world he was so annoyed 
by the constant mispronunciation of his name that he suggested a family 
convention for changing the spelling. Professor Addison Hoge had been 
so much vexed from the same cause that he adopted the spelling Hogue. 



3 86 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



at times intense, his weakness and emaciation extreme, but 
so great was his force of will that he would shave and dress 
himself almost every day. Some nights the spark would 
almost go out, but in the morning it would flame up again. 
The fever at last burned itself out, and with his wonderful 
power of recuperation he recovered sufficiently to be brought 
to Richmond early in August. On the 24th of that month 
he went with his son, Hampden Hoge, to Atlantic City, 
where, in spacious rooms facing the ocean, he drank in new 
health and vigor from the salt breeze. Hopes began to be 
entertained of his recovery, and he himself fixed the end of 
September for his return home; but he was far from well. 
To his nephew, who had missed him at Atlantic City, he 
wrote from the home of Mr. Wallace King, near Baltimore : 

Elderslie, September 15, 1898. 
My Dear Peyton : I am truly sorry that you had your 
trip to Atlantic City without finding what you went for. 
Knowing that you were to preach in New York last Sun- 
day, I would have written and informed you of my move- 
ments if I had only known to whose care to direct my letter. 
Had you been aware of my locality you could have come to 
Baltimore instead of Atlantic City, and by the electric cars 
reached me here in twenty minutes and spent the night 
under the roof of people who would have given you a glad 
welcome. ... I am sorry to tell you my improvement in 
health is far from being what I anticipated. I have had 
every advantage, but am still weak and tremulous. You 
can see it in my penmanship ; but I am as strong as ever in 
the bonds that make me 

Your affectionate uncle, Moses D. Hoge. 

In spite, however, of his feeble physical condition, Dr. 
Hoge persisted in going to Elkins, W. Va., to fulfil an en- 
gagement to perform the marriage ceremony of Mr. Arthur 
Lee, of Richmond, to Miss Grace Davis, the daughter of 
ex-Senator Davis, of West Virginia. The journey was 
comfortably made in a private car, and the ceremony duly 
performed in the beautiful Davis Memorial Church, which 



Closing Years. 



387 



Dr. Hoge had dedicated several years before. In the palatial 
home of Mr. Davis, among the beautiful West Virginia 
mountains, and with the solicitous attention of the family 
and their many distinguished guests, Dr. Hoge made marked 
improvement, and, true to his purpose, returned to Rich- 
mond in time to preach on the first Sunday in October. 

It was an occasion of intensest interest. A great congre- 
gation had assembled to hear the voice they had never 
expected to hear from the pulpit again. He entered as one 
risen from the dead. His step was trembling and slow. 
There was a manifest effort at self-control in his voice and 
movements, as he began the opening services ; but before he 
reached the sermon, he seemed to be himself again. He 
became "erect and animated, and spoke with all his distinct- 
ness and beauty of diction." The sermon was on "The 
Causes and Cure of Despondency," from Psalm xlii. 11, 
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou dis- 
quieted within me ? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise 
him, who is the health of my countenance and my God." An 
impressive part of the sermon referred to the sorrow occa- 
sioned by the death of men eminently endowed with gifts 
which qualified them for useful service. He said : 

In this sorrow I share to-day, when I remember the pri- 
vation we have suffered in the loss of my honored brother, 
the Rev. Dr. Barnett, of Atlanta, whose church it was my 
privilege to dedicate, and whose career as pastor and pres- 
byter, and whose unswerving devotion to all the duties of 
his holy calling won for him an ever-deepening- respect and 
affection on the part of those who knew him best as the 
years have gone by. 

And what a blank, greatly to be deplored, has been made 
in the roll of the faithful preachers of the word, whose duty 
and delight it is to bear up the banner of the pure gospel in 
the eyes of the unnumbered multitude by the removal of 
Dr. John Hall from the wide field of his earthly labors ! 

And what shall I say of the sorrow of all who revere the 
patriot sage, and the incorruptible statesman, in contem- 



388 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



plating the death of the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, a man 
who gave new dignity to the highest positions of trust 
which his country could bestow upon him? Descended 
from a noble ancestry, he not only maintained the family 
honor, but added new lustre to it. Like his great progeni- 
tor, 1 he was without fear and without reproach. No re- 
flection could be made on his integrity, and never by the 
sacrifice of principle did he seek emolument or orifice. For 
more than thirty years I was honored by his friendship 
and by many tokens of his regard. 

In conclusion. Dr. Hoge said : 

It is not my habit to introduce personal matters into my 
sermons, but after so many weeks of enforced silence, 
through so severe and serious an illness, I cannot re- 
strain the wish to express my gratitude to God for per- 
mitting me to stand again in this pulpit and speak once 
more to the people of my first and only love as a pastor ! 
For what I have recently suffered I have had so many com- 
pensations that I would be ungrateful indeed if I did not 
express my thankfulness for numberless telegrams and 
letters during my absence, assuring me of the sympathy 
and affection of those to whom I have so long ministered ; 
grateful that I have been the subject of so many prayers, 
at family altars, and in the congregations of my brethren,, 
who remembered me in leading the devotions of their peo- 
ple. Some pastor must be the happiest pastor in the world,, 
and sometimes I think I may be the one. I can say what, 
perhaps, few can say, that I am satisfied with my lot. For 
more than fifty years there has been no church in the world 
that I would be willing to take in exchange for this. 

During my recent separation from you, I have been free 
from all anxiety on your behalf, because of my entire con- 
fidence in the discretion, the wisdom and the fidelity of my 
dear friend and colleague, Donald Guthrie. God has 
blessed his labors of love to some who united by public pro- 
fession with this church at your last communion. 

How it would rejoice my heart if this, my first sermon 
on my return, should be the means of leading some soul to 

1 Dr. Hoge does not use this word in the strictest sense, as the Che- 
valier Bayard died unmarried. 



Closing Years. 



389 



Christ, or of strengthening and comforting one of God's 
dear children. I have nothing more to wish for as a pastor, 
except the abundant outpouring of the Spirit of all grace, 
and the happy conversion of some in whom I feel a deep 
interest, and who will, as I trust, soon be able to say, "I 
hope in God, and I will yet praise him who is the health of 
my countenance and my God." 

The sermon was printed, and, coming as it did out of the 
heart of the experiences of a sick chamber, it reached the 
hearts of many denied the enjoyment of the services of God's 
house. 

That week the buildings of Union Seminary were to be 
dedicated at its beautiful new home in the suburbs of Rich- 
mond. He was personally deeply interested in the removal, 
"but, on account of his official relations to Hampden-Sidney 
College, had taken no public part in the movement. On 
Wednesday he was still too fatigued from the effort of Sun- 
day to attend the dedication services, but Thursday morning 
he came out to hear the opening address of Professor John- 
son. By a spontaneous impulse, the whole audience rose as 
he entered. That afternoon he drove out again to witness 
the raising of the Covenanters' flag, and to make the prayer 
at the ceremonies in connection with it. 

The Rev. Dr. James P. Smith, now editor of the Central 
Presbyterian, a brother of his dear friend Mrs. Brown, who 
had married the daughter of his first cousin, Major J. 
Horace Lacy, had built a beautiful home near the seminary, 
which was completed shortly before the seminary was 
opened. From his sick chamber, Dr. Hoge had written him 
that when he returned to Richmond he wished to dedicate 
his home. So one bright October evening he drove out and 
took dinner with the family, and in a service of great beauty 
dedicated the home to God, and sought his blessing on all 
its inmates for all time. Why should not this beautiful 
thought become a custom? 

Dr. Hoge preached every Sunday morning in October in 



39Q 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



his own church, and several Sunday evenings in other 
churches. During that month he took the Wednesday even- 
ing service, lecturing three successive Wednesdays on the 
Visions of Zechariah. His morning texts, after the first 
Sunday, were: 

October gth. — Psalm xvi. n, "In thy presence is fulness 
of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." 

October 16th. — Hebrews v. I, 2, "For every high priest 
taken from among men is ordained for men in things per- 
taining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices 
for sins : who can have compassion on the ignorant and on 
them that are out of the way." 

October 23d. — John x. 17, 18, "I lay down my life, that I 
might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay- 
it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have 
power to take it again. This commandment have I received 
of my Father." 

October 30th. — John xvi. 6, 7, "But because I have said 
these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Never- 
theless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I 
go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come 
unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." 

The sermon on these strangely prophetic words — the last 
that he was to preach from that sacred pulpit — was pro- 
nounced at the time a sermon of wonderful pathos and 
power. 

He had also conducted several funerals, and had taken 
part in various public meetings. With Mr. Guthrie he had 
planned for an active winter's work. His health had be- 
come, not strong, but much firmer. He remarked to his 
daughter that he had never taken a fresher interest in the 
beauties of nature or the delights of literature. 

On Friday, November 4th, as he was returning home from 
a visit of consolation to a bereaved family in his congrega- 
tion, he was driving along in a quiet reverie of thankful 
emotions that at last he had taken up every part of his work 



Closing Years. 



39i 



again, when suddenly he heard the clang of a gong in his 
ears, felt the crash of a car against his buggy, and found 
himself hurled through the air. He landed on his right side 
on the hard paving stones, sustaining severe injuries, ex- 
ternal and internal. He was tenderly borne to his home, 
bruised and bleeding from head to foot. As the external 
injuries began to heal, hopes were entertained of his recov- 
ery. The day set for Mr. Guthrie's installation was post- 
poned from Sunday to Sunday, at his wish, in the hope that 
he might be present ; but graver symptoms began to appear, 
indicating lesion of the ligaments of the heart. Everything 
was done to cheer and brighten his chamber. The flowers 
that were daily showered upon him, after a few hours were 
replaced by others, and went forth to brighten other cham- 
bers of sickness. Letters, notes, telegrams from all parts of 
our own and other lands surrounded him with an atmos- 
phere of love and sympathy. Now and then some favored 
one was received into his room, or some pastor offered 
prayer at his side. 

Before his accident there had been a plan under discussion 
among some of his Masonic friends to make him a Mason 
without the usual steps and formalities. He had never as- 
sociated himself either with the Masonic order or any other 
secret society, believing that the ministry served the church 
best by making it the one brotherhood or association to 
which all their energies were devoted ; but this came to him, 
not as a new demand upon his time, but as an unsought 
honor, and he accepted it as a token of the regard of a great 
fraternity. After his accident, it was arranged that the 
initiation should take place quietly in his room, and with a 
brief ceremony he was "made a Mason at sight," as the city 
papers expressed it. He was immediately elected chaplain, 
and closed the ceremony with a beautiful and touching 
prayer. 

When the regular communion service of the church was 
at hand, he dictated this letter to his congregation. It was 



392 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



his last word to the people he had served so long and loved 
so well : 

My Beloved Friends, Members of the Second Presbyterian 
Church: 

For the first time in fifty-three years I am separated from 
you during communion season, while I am in the city dur- 
ing its commemoration. I have been separated from you 
on other occasions, sometimes by intervening seas and con- 
tinents, but to-day, although my chamber almost touches 
the place in which you are gathered, the very nearness 
makes me feel the privation to be all the greater. Perhaps 
no church has had such a record of happy communions ex- 
tending over half a century; the attendance has always 
been large, the interest of the people in the service intense, 
and almost uniformly additions have been made to the 
membership from your own families or from those of your 
friends ; but whoever else may be absent, the great Shep- 
herd and Bishop of souls will be with you. Nothing can 
separate you from His presence and His love, and while you 
are partaking of His consecrated emblems, my prayer shall 
be that Christ may be precious to every trusting heart, and 
the season be made memorable by foretastes of heavenly 
rest and peace. 

The writer saw him once, early in December, when his 
case had entered its most serious stage. His mind was then 
perfectly clear. He was full of all affectionate interest, and 
said things to be remembered always ; but not to be recorded 
here. Led to speak of himself he described his symptoms 
with perfect accuracy, and understood their meaning, al- 
though his physicians had not told him of these things. He 
spoke of the mystery of the providence that restored him in 
answer to so many prayers only to lay him aside again. He 
could not understand it, but he was submissive beneath the 
rod. He was content to be made perfect in the school of 
physical suffering, and took delight in the promises of God 
and the consolations of his word. The seventy-first Psalm, 
especially, he said, was his Psalm. 

But darker days were to come. The delicate fibres of the 



Closing Years. 



393 



"brain had received a shock the full effect of which became 
more manifest as the brain became less nourished. Clouds 
settled down upon his mind, and his mental sufferings were 
great. All through these weary weeks his devoted friend, 
Dr. McGuire, spent an hour with him in the heart of every- 
day. As a physician, there was little that he could do ; but 
as a friend he strove to cheer him and to turn his mind into 
channels of pleasant association. And it was not all dark- 
ness. While the princely mind was overthrown, there would 
be intervals, not, indeed, of restored reason, but of light and 
^sweetness and love. For the last three weeks of his life his 
oldest daughter was ill with pneumonia, and Mrs. Gilliam 
was the only woman at his side, his faithful, tender, tire- 
less nurse. She resembled her mother, and to his mind 
the years were turned backward to the days of his early 
married life. He called her "Mamma," and would ask 
Tier, as evening came on, ''Are all the children in?" — with 
many other words of endearment and solicitude. Some- 
times he would speak as if to an audience, at times incoher- 
ently, then again with sentences of as perfect finish and 
beauty as ever fell from his lips. Then A'isions of light 
and beauty would seem to break upon him. It was of the 
experiences of one such night that his nephew, Addison, 
wrote : 

I was once helping to take care of one of God's servants 
who was sick. He had opened his heart to me when I was 
a motherless baby and had taken me into his home. In 
after years he had once more opened heart and home to 
me when I was a fatherless boy ; and so it was a great 
privilege to be a comfort to him in his time of need. For a 
while it was my part to stay with him at night. His restless- 
ness made him talk in his sleep a great deal. Usually this 
talk was incoherent. All the lines of association in his mind 
seemed to be inextricably tangled, and his thoughts crossed 
and re-crossed as the telephone messages might do in a city 
where a storm had caused confusion along all the wires. 

But one night it was different. The day before, we had 



394 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



thought the end might be drawing near. That night he 
had glorious visions. I had fallen asleep and was awakened 
by the sound of his voice. He was asleep, but that voice 
was full and deep, and might have swelled through a large 
cathedral, so great was its volume. The tones were not 
only rich and resonant, but there was in them a majesty that 
I had never known before. The utterance was solemn and 
deliberate, a slight pause between the syllables, a longer 
pause between the words ; and there was one constant re- 
frain that began his sentences — "End-less — beauty ! End- 
less — beauty I" Scores and scores of times did the words- 
ring forth. "Daz-zling — ra-diant — un-fading!" also fell 
from his lips. As I lay there in the small hours of the night, 
it seemed to me that I was in the presence of a soul that was- 
hovering on the borders of the other world and over- 
whelmed by the glory of what it saw. Over and over again 
the large and silent house resounded with the words, "End- 
less — beauty ! End-less beauty !" Did he see the King in 
His beauty ? Did he behold Him who is the chief est among 
ten thousand and the one altogether lovely? Sometimes 
the words "her" and "she" mingled with the others, and 
then I wondered whether he saw the smile v on the angel- 
face of one whom he had 

" Loved long since and lost awhile." 

On the afternoon of January 5th he had been very rest- 
less, but towards evening sunk into a quiet sleep. After 
nightfall a change appeared quite suddenly. He was per- 
fectly conscious, but evidently dying. His daughter assured 
hirn that she w r as by his side, for he seemed to see no one, 
but, she added, '''Jesus is with you, which is far better." He 
pressed her hand, but did not speak. At intervals she re- 
peated to him the first verse of Bonar's hymn — 

" I heard the voice of Jesus say," 

and the twenty-third Psalm, which he had so often called 
"that singing angel among the Psalms." Each time he 
warmly pressed her hand. These words of affection and en- 
couragement were continued whenever he roused from the 
short dozes into which he fell. About ten o'clock he called 
her name distinctly, "Mary," and never spoke again. 



Closing Years. 



395 



From that time on his breath came slower and fainter. 
There was no snapping of the cord; only a sinking of the 
flame until, a little after two o'clock on the morning of the 
6th, the vital spark was gone. His hands were folded peace- 
fully across his breast as he had lain for hours, and soon the 
calm majesty of death came to his face and smoothed away 
all the marks of pain. As one looked upon the still counte- 
nance, and thought of the wealth of thought and fancy and 
reminiscence that had lain behind that noble brow, and that 
had found expression upon those once mobile lips, one could 
only recall the Psalmist's words, "In that very hour his 
thoughts perish." So it seems, indeed. How many times 
in the writing of these pages have we needed just the one 
word that he alone could speak. There are treasures that a 
man gathers in life that he takes from the world when he 
leaves it; but do they perish? That which is gathered in 
righteousness and used for God is laid up in heaven; and 
the man who is freighted with such treasures cannot perish, 
but enters on a nobler work in a higher sphere. It would 
seem that even the materialist is under obligations to account 
for the disappearance from the earth of so much force and 
power; but One who needed not to speculate, because he 
knew, has said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." And Dr. 
Hoge's motto gives the answer of faith, "Resurgam." 

By Dr. Hoge's explicit directions the funeral services were 
marked with the utmost simplicity. He stipulated that there 
should be no flowers, and no funeral address. The casket 
of cedar wood was covered with plain black cloth, upon 
which were laid two palm branches. There were no mourn- 
ing emblems in the church. "The crepe is worn on our 
hearts," said an old gentleman, who had been impressed in 
his youth by Dr. Hoge's university sermons, and late in life 
came from an adjoining county to unite with his church. 
The church was crowded to its utmost capacity, but not 
more than it had often been to hear the voice that was now 
still. Mr. Guthrie and Dr. James P. Smith made the 



396 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



prayers ; Dr. Witherspoon and Dr. Kerr read the scriptures, 
2nd Messrs. Stewart and Cook, pastors of the churches 
founded by him, announced the hymns. Hymns, prayers 
and scriptures were full of all that could give uplift and 
hope ; but when the slow procession began to move through 
the aisle, bearing forever from his church the pastor of 
nearly fifty-four years, the long pent-up emotions of the 
great throng broke forth in half-stifled sobs all over the 
building. When the procession passed into the street, 
though there was no pageant to attract the crowd, the multi- 
tude without was found to be vastly greater than the assem- 
bly within ; and thousands lined the long way by which the 
procession was to pass. 

Before the Sabbath sun had set on the short winter's day, 
the spot in Hollywood where his loved ones lay was reached, 
and with a few words of prayer and benediction his mortal 
part was committed to the ground. And there he sleeps ; by 
the wife who walked beside him in loving helpfulness ; with 
the little ones who brightened his home for a season ; with 
the brother with whom he held sweet converse, and with 
whom he had lain on this very spot in the fulness of life and 
communed of all that was in their hearts; with the un- 
counted hundreds at whose graves he had spoken of "J esus 
and the resurrection;" with the great and heroic dead of 
Virginia and the Confederacy, to whom he had so often paid 
eloquent tribute; in the soil of that Virginia he so loyally 
served and so devotedly loved ; by the noble river that sings 
the requiem of the dead who sleep beside its banks. 

And like the river, the stream of humanity flows on. As 
one drove home in the solemn evening and looked upon the 
living throngs moving in the scenes that had known him, 
and treading the streets that should know him no more, one 
thought, What becomes of a life spent in the service of hu- 
manity ? What remains of the toil and tears of these many 
seasons ? This one will return to his farm, and that one to 
his merchandise, and that to his pleasure. The stone falls 



Closing Years. 



397 



into the river and makes a few ripples for a moment, and 
then the river closes over it and flows on as before. 

But happier thoughts come after. The sun floods the 
earth by day and leaves no ray to illumine the night. The 
rain of yesterday is dried from the face of the earth to-day. 
The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the 
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor 
whither it goeth. But in the verdure of the fields, the beauty 
of the flowers, in the harvests of golden grain, and the rich 
fruitage of the earth, wind and rain and sunshine are stored 
to fill our hearts with food and gladness. So a man's name 
may perish from the earth ; the memory of what he was and 
of what he did may fade away ; but the influence and power 
and life of the man live on in other hearts, and reproduce 
themselves in other lives, until all are garnered at last in the 
eternal "harvest home." 

"I never date a letter at the beginning of a year," he wrote- 
his sister one New Year's day, " without some emotion. 
When I write you a letter and date it January i, 1900, that 
will look stranger still." In the year preceding that date 
they both passed from time into eternity ; but, marking well 
the years as they passed, and filling them with work for God 
and man, they have learned that — 

" Life a winter's morn may prove 
To a bright endless year." 



CHAPTER XV. 



Character and Work. 

"Why does the Mohammedan put a man on the top of the minaret? He 
thought of the trumpet that once summoned the congregation of Israel to wor- 
ship ; he thought of the bells that still summon Christian people to worship ; 
but at last he thought of the human voice. . . . There is nothing like the 
human voice for impressing human hearts. So it will be to the end of time." — 
Moses Drury Hoge. 

HERE we would fain lay down our pen and feel that our 
task is done, with thankfulness that so much of the 
man survives ; with a sigh that so much is irrevocably gone. 
The orator's influence is necessarily limited in great part to 
his contemporaries. The eloquence of Demosthenes is more 
than a tradition only because of his written masterpieces; 
hut who that has read them has not longed to sit in the Pnyx 
under the blue arch of that incomparable sky, with the white- 
templed Acropolis above him, and the blue bay of Salamis 
before him, and all around the "violet crown" of Athens' 
hills, and to come under the spell of voice and action and 
man, as the great thoughts surged through his soul, while 
he plead for honor and for liberty, and hurled forth those 
invectives against their ambitious adversary that have ever 
•since given name to denunciatory eloquence ? Who has not 
longed to stand in the Forum amid the monuments of 
Rome's storied greatness and hear the voice that poured 
forth the rotund periods that we call Ciceronian? Or to 
gather with the awed and silent throngs that filled the great 
church where the "Grand Monarch" lay in solemn state amid 
the pageantry of France, and await with expectant hush the 
magic of Massillon's voice, and feel the thrill of those first 
words, "There is nothing great but God," while his voice 
seemed the only voice, and those words the only words 



Character and Work. 



399 



worthy to break such silence? But there is no magic that 
can renew that spell, or give back 

— "the sound of a voice that is still." 

Dr. Hoge was a voice; and when a voice is silent, it is 
gone. He himself recognized this and spoke of it; but he 
had chosen deliberately, and he chose wisely. Those to 
whom God has given the divine power of eloquence dare not 
choose otherwise ; for, as he himself said in the words at the 
head of the chapter, ''There is nothing like the human voice 
for impressing human hearts. So it will be to the end of 
time." 

But to be a voice — a human voice — one must be a man. 
The voice can only give out what lies behind it. The night- 
ingale breathes out sweetness, and the dove sounds its mourn- 
ful plaint ; the lamb bleats its helplessness, and the lion roars 
its savage strength ; but to speak to men of what concerns 
men, one must be a man. To speak to men of the things of 
God, one must be born of God. 

What shall we say, then, concerning this man — this man 
of God ? While one lives whom we love and honor, we are 
content to love and honor him. We rejoice in what he is and 
in what he does. We sit down under his shadow with great 
delight, and his fruit is sweet to our taste. But when he is 
dead, we seek to place him. He belongs to the great com- 
pany of the past who have blessed the world with their lives, 
and on the w r alls of the great temple of their fame we seek to 
find his niche. 

But such a work is not for us. With loving and reverent 
pen we have sought to tell some things that he did and some 
things that he said, that — so far as might be — he might 
speak and act in these pages as he spoke and acted in life. If 
this has failed, no characterization we could now give would 
redeem the failure. If it has succeeded, no characterization 
is necessary. 

Nevertheless, at the risk of a seeming inconsistency, there 



400 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



are some things that must be gathered up and given in more 
orderly statement than was possible in the course of our 
narrative, before we can feel that our task is done ; and we 
are fortunate in this : that in what is most necessary of all, 
the analysis of his pulpit power, another has already said 
just what we would like to have said, but which we could not 
have said so well. 

Dr. Hoge's appearance would have commanded attention 
iii any assembly, under any circumstances. His brow was 
high and noble ; his nose strongly and keenly aquiline ; his 
mouth large, firm and flexible; the chin broad and strong, 
but not heav}^. His cheek was furrowed with deep lines that 
met beneath his chin. His neck was long and capable of re- 
markable elongation — one of his most expressive gestures. 
His complexion was swarthy, but clearer in later life than in 
his younger years; and his fine brown hair, brushed back 
from his brow, was never decidedly gray. For many years 
he wore no beard except a closely clipped moustache. 

But the eyes were the expressive feature of the face. He 
had his mother's eyes ; and, like hers, they were called black, 
brown, hazel — everything but blue, which they were not, 
and gray, which they were. The uncertainty was due to the 
wonderful expansive power of the pupil; but the changes 
of expression were still more remarkable ; now melting into 
the most winsome tenderness, now burning with the intensity 
of an eagle's, now dancing in merriment, now grave or sad. 

His fine head was finely poised, though set on shoulders 
too sloping for the ideal of manly strength. But strong he 
was. He was too spare to be considered muscular, but his 
muscles were like finely tempered steel. His hands were 
slender and delicate, but he had a grip like a vise. He stood 
just six feet in height, but was so slender as to appear even 
taller. He was always in motion, like a high-bred horse, and 
could never endure to be still ; but he could endure exertion 
with tireless tenacity. He was good at such manly sports as 
were in vogue in his youth — except fishing, which did not 



Character and Work. 



401 



accord with his temperament — but was at his best on horse- 
back. He rode superbly, always maintaining the Virginia 
seat, in which man and beast are as one. He rode to the last. 
When so ill at the White Sulphur Springs the summer before 
he died, that Dr. McGuire seemed discouraged about his 
case, he said, "Never mind, Doctor, I'll ride by your house 
on Lucile, some morning in October, before you are out of 
bed." And so he did. 

No one ever called Dr. Hoge a handsome man ; but no one 
ever failed to recognize him as a brilliant and distinguished- 
looking man. Just what he was, however, strangers could 
not always make out. When going to deliver an address in 
Charleston, the other three seats in a Pullman section were 
taken up by three gentlemen from that city. They did 
their best to be polite. One of them brought out a bottle and 
passed it to him with the others. He politely declined. No- 
thing daunted, they proposed that he join them in a game of 
cards. Again a polite refusal; but, after playing a while 
without him, they proposed poker for a small stake, saying, 
"This is a game that will just suit you." When that failed, 
they gave him up for a time, until the Charleston papers were 
brought on the train. Having purchased one, a member of 
the party, looking over it, came to the account of the expected 
address before the Bible Society. A light seemed to dawn, 
and, pointing to the heading, he said to Dr. Hoge, "Is that 
your name ?" The mystery being solved, they dropped other 
forms of amusement, and fell into conversation, in which 
he so charmed them that they showed him marked attentions 
when they reached the city, and afterwards declared he was 
the most interesting man they had ever met. One would be 
in doubt, perhaps, as to whether he was a military or a pro- 
fessional man; but, while there was nothing unclerical 
about his appearance, there was nothing to suggest the eccle- 
siastic. 

Dr. Hoge's portrait was several times painted by the late 
William Garl Brown. A bust portrait is in possession of his 



402 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



daughter, Mrs. Gilliam, and a three-quarter length portrait, 
with extended hand and open palm, a favorite attitude in 
preaching, hangs in the lecture-room of his church ; a similar 
one was presented by Mr. O. F. Bresee, of Baltimore, to the 
Philanthropic Society of Hampden-Sidney College. A suc- 
cessful bust of him was modelled by Moynihan. 

It is, perhaps, unusual that the physical man so correctly 
represents the intellectual man as in Dr. Hoge's case. His 
intellect was conspicuous for fineness of quality and vigor of 
action, rather than for massiveness. His fancy was light of 
wing and wide of range. His logical processes were quick 
and keen. His judgment had the swiftness and soundness 
almost of intuition. His perceptions were immediate, and 
his memory marvellously retentive and exact. All that he 
had read, and all that he had seen, seemed to be his for all 
time, and, better still, was always at his command, coming to 
his mind, seemingly unbidden, just when needed. 

This quality of readiness, indeed, was probably his most 
unique excellence, pervading the whole man, and manifesting 
itself in every position in which he was placed. He never 
seemed embarrassed — never at a loss. Once when the Gen- 
eral Assembly was meeting in a city at the time of the closing 
exercises of a large school for young ladies, one of the great- 
est divines and orators in the country was to make the ad- 
dress to the graduates, and Dr. Hoge was to deliver the 
medals. The orator of the occasion saw before he began 
that his. ammunition was too heavy for the occasion. He 
confided his difficulty to Dr. Hoge, who tried to persuade 
him to throw his manuscript aside and make an extempore 
address ; but he was unwilling to trust himself. His address 
was learned and deep and long, and the girls, wearied with 
their labors and preparations for the occasion, nearly fell over 
each other in their fatigue before it was over. When the 
time came for the delivery of the medals, Dr. Hoge fairly 
bubbled over with gaiety. He glanced from one thing to 
another with such a light touch and such humorous fancy 



Character and Work. 



403 



that the girls were revived as with sparkling wine. Sud- 
denly there was a hitch. At the moment when a medal 
should have been delivered and the modest maiden was 
standing before him to receive it, it could not be found. An 
embarrassing pause was about to follow, when he tore a 
piece of ivy from the decorations of a pillar, deftly twined it 
into a chaplet, and, amid a storm of applause, placed it upon 
"her head, with some happy word. Just then the medal was 
produced and duly presented amid fresh applause, and the 
girl, who was on the point of mortification, was sent to her 
•seat the happiest of them all. 

In more serious matters this readiness was more than the 
happy faculty of doing the right thing at the right time. It 
was the divine spark that distinguishes genius from mere 
talent. It may. be difficult to define genius, but in nothing is 
its presence more marked than in this : that under the glow 
of excitement, and in the emergency of a crisis, all the fac- 
ulties of the soul are keyed to their highest pitch, and the 
mind works with a facility, a brilliancy and a power that sur- 
prises itself. This is the exaltation that a great general feels 
in the crisis and strain of battle ; this is the "divine afflatus" 
that produces the poetry that lives and sings itself in the 
heart; and this is the inspiration of the orator, that bears 
him aloft on flights that could never be wrought out in the 
:Study. 

At a Hampden-Sidney commencement, Dr. Hoge's dear 
friend and class-mate, Dr. Dabney, had delivered an address 
on the "New South." He had given sound advice and wise 
counsel — urging the young men before him to accept present 
conditions and throw their whole energies into the work of 
building up the New South until it should be the equal of the 
old ; but it was evident that his heart was with the old, and 
that his hope for the future was not bright. Twice in the 
course of his address had all the power of his mind shone out 
in a brilliant figure — each time descriptive of the old South. 
Once, in her prosperity, he compared her to the bronze 



4°4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Athena, standing in massive strength upon the living rock 
of the Acropolis, crowned with the insignia of victory and 
empire, armed cap-a-pie to defy every foe, the gilded tip of 
her burnished spear catching every ray of the sun, and guid- 
ing the sailor from afar as he brought the products of every 
clime, to lay them at her feet. 

Again he had brought tears to every eye as he pictured,, 
amid all the pageantry of military display that rendered 
brilliant the ceremony of unveiling the statue of Stonewall 
Jackson, the tattered remnant of the old Stonewall Brigade, 
as they marched amid the gay throngs to do honor to their 
old chief. Then, he said, it was that the enthusiasm was 
wildest, that such cheers and huzzas rent the air as the 
young soldiers, in all their brilliant array, were unable to 
evoke. The hearts of the people turned to the Old South in 
its poverty and defeat, rather than to the New in its bravest 
show. 

Dr. Hoge had to speak the next day. He wished to give a. 
more hopeful turn to the subject without seeming to criticise 
or antagonize his old friend. He was handling the matter 
as delicately as he could, but as Dr. Dabney sat before him, 
he could see that his face was unresponsive. He determined 
to win him, and in an instant the whole thought flashed be- 
fore him. It was complicated and hazardous. A false touch 
would ruin it all, and Mrs. Jackson and Julia were in the 
audience, making delicate handling more necessary; but as 
these things passed through his mind, he had already begun : 
"When my honored friend said yesterday that it was the 
appearance of the old Stonewall Brigade that evoked the. 
greatest outburst of enthusiasm on the ever-to-be-remem- 
bered day to which he referred, he surely forgot one circum- 
stance. When the Governor of the commonwealth lifted the 
little daughter of General Jackson upon the railing of the 
platform and presented her to the assembled multitudes, then* 
it was that the greatest shouts shook the air, that hats were 
tossed highest, and flags and handkerchiefs were waved irt 



Character and Work. 



405 



the wildest enthusiasm, and the old veterans themselves 
almost tore the earth in the exuberance of their joy. For 
why? General Jackson was dead, but his daughter still 
lived. The Old South was dead, but the New South was 
alive; and though now like that slender girl standing on 
the frail railing of a temporary platform, yet through the 
loyal devotion and loving service of these young men, she 
shall yet stand forth before the world like the bronze 
Athena" — and continued, almost word for word, Dr. Dab- 
ney's magnificent description of the day before. He had 
taken Dr. Dabney's two finest passages — of course, we have 
only hinted the thought in barest outline — and, by the skilful 
introduction of a new and tender incident, had turned them 
both into the channel he desired. The interest was enhanced 
by the relations of both to General Jackson ; Dr. Dabney, his 
chief of staff and his biographer, Dr. Hoge his eulogist on 
the very day referred to ; and by the presence of Mrs. Jackson 
and her daughter in the audience. Dr. Hoge was hardly able 
to complete the passage for the storm of applause that swept 
over the audience, and when he looked down at Dr. Dabney 
he was in tears. He had touched the deepest springs of his 
heart. 

Probably Dr. Hoge's highest flights were reached under 
circumstances like these, and it was always true that lan- 
guage came to him best under the inspiration of an audience. 
In his study, with a pen in his hand, he often sought pain- 
fully for the best word. Before an audience he never hesi- 
tated for a moment, and it was not often that the word could 
t>e improved upon; but he never suffered his readiness to 
oecome a snare to him. He never came under the curse of 
Ms own facility. He knew that the ultimate standard by 
which a man was judged was not readiness, but excellence; 
not how the fountain flowed, but the character of the waters. 
Hence his life was a life of study. The discourse that he 
delivered at Copenhagen on five minutes' notice had been 
preparing for fifty years ; you can find the germ of it in his 



406 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



record of his mother's death in his college diary. This gen- 
eral preparation was going on all the time. He kept in 
communion with the great masters of thought. He stored 
his mind with the best that they had said in prose and poetry. 
He read the freshest and brightest of contemporary litera- 
ture. He kept himself informed of all that was going on in 
the world. He studied not only books, but events and things, 
and, most of all, men. He studied these things for their own 
sake; but he studied them in a higher relation — as they 
illustrated or confirmed the word of God, and as the word of 
God could be brought to bear upon them; and that was, 
after all, his most inexhaustible field of study. The word of 
Christ dwelt in him richly. The richness and variety of the 
Bible was a favorite theme of talk with him. He could speak 
on this theme as one having authority, for from that Bible 
he preached with infinite variety for over fifty years. 

But he did not depend on general preparation. We have 
all known those who did ; who, with five minutes' prepara- 
tion, would preach or speak on any theme. They necessarily 
fell into monotony and vapidity; no matter how extensive 
their reading or how general their scholarship, unless new 
channels were cut, thought would flow in the old. On the 
other hand, we have all seen those who made only special 
preparation. They select a subject, read up on it, and con- 
scientiously prepare a discourse, each man according to his 
several ability; but, confining themselves to such prepara- 
tion, they become narrow in their range of subjects and 
didactic in their style of treatment. Both methods are neces- 
sary. The general preparation to give freshness of thought 
and variety of theme, the special to give definiteness of aim 
and exactness of thought to the individual discourse. 

To make this special preparation the more easily, Dr. 
Hoge sought to record whatever impressed him in his gen- 
eral reading or study. An earlier mention has been made of 
the "Index Rerum," in which this record was kept. It was 
a stout volume, small quarto, made of fine, thin, unruled 



Character and Work. 



407 



paper, and divided into sections by the letters of the alphabet. 
When a subject entered his mind, he noted it under its letter, 
with any thoughts then occurring to him, and as he read, in 
books, magazines, or newspapers, anything that bore upon 
it was noted down. Or, if he read an article that impressed 
him, or was struck by a passage in a book, he would note its 
subject in his Index, referring to the article or book, and as 
he came to other things upon the same subject, they were 
duly noted also. Of course, magazines and newspapers that 
were referred to had to be preserved, and — what was more 
difficult — found when needed; but this part of the work he 
generally turned over to members of his family. It was the 
special work of his invalid daughter to preserve these fleeting 
treasures, and her wide reading constantly enriched his own, 
by directing him to that which she knew would interest and 
prove useful to him. 

This was the fundamental secret of his work and method. 
The wealth of, incident and allusion that enriched his dis- 
course was not the driftage of his current reading, nor the 
flotsam and jetsam cast up by the tides of memory, but was 
brought forth from carefully freighted cargoes laden in far 
distant ports, and stored for future use; and when these 
stores did not afford the merchandise he needed, he did just 
what the enterprising merchant would do — he sought every- 
where until he found it. When he had to treat a special sub- 
ject, he sought from specialists the best literature extant and 
available. And — if we may be pardoned for pressing the 
figure a little farther — he was very solicitous as to the genu- 
ineness of his wares. In this respect his habits were more 
those of the writer than of the speaker. No pains were too 
great for the verification of a quotation, and nothing less 
than exactness and certainty satisfied him. 

His "Index" was a thesaurus, not only of subjects and 
treatment, but, to some extent, also of expression. Hap- 
pily turned phrases, graceful combinations of words, strik- 
ing expressions of thought, were noted, and passed into 



4o8 



Moses Drury HoCxE. 



his vocabulary; but, as a rule, his preparation for the 
pulpit was the preparation not of language, but of 
thought. 

Not so, however, with his prayers. Prayer he did not 
consider the place for "eloquence," but for the reverent and 
devout expression of the needs of the human heart. For 
this he felt that the most careful preparation of language, 
as well as thought, was necessary. Personally, he believed 
that a moderate and flexible liturgy, embodying the devo- 
tional product of all the ages, with ample freedom for the 
addition of such original prayers as occasion demanded, 
would be the most satisfactory vehicle of the church's prayer 
and praise. The strongest argument for a liturgy, he felt, 
was furnished by the careless, shipshod and undignified 
prayers of some of those who most vehemently opposed all 
forms. This argument he did much to remove by his own- 
careful preparation for the solemn work of leading the peo- 
ple's devotion, so that few who attended his own ministry 
ever felt the need of anything different; but the elaborate 
and laborious preparation that he made for this service, as 
evinced by his papers, surely raises anew the question of the 
propriety of laying such an additional burden upon the min- 
istry of a church in which so much is expected in the prepara- 
tion of sermons. If a Moses Hoge could only attain excel- 
lence in this service by such laborious means, and if the stock 
of Moses Hoges is so small, could not the church profitably 
draw more largely upon the devotional literature of the past ? 
This literature is the heritage of no one branch of the church. 
Much of it comes down from the primitive church, and some 
©f the most important contributions to it have been made by 
the great reformers whose work is the special heritage of 
the Presbyterian family of churches. Be that as it may, Dr. 
Hoge's peculiar power in prayer was not merely the result 
of what is called the "gift of prayer." Not only his cele- 
brated prayers on great public occasions were carefully writ- 
ten out, but from his early ministry he wrote prayers for 



Character and Work. 



409 



every variety of occasion and service, and formulated peti- 
tions on every variety of topic. 1 

Into the make-up of the orator, and especially of the 
preacher, there are other qualities than those of the intellect. 
The heart is as important as the head. We confess that we 
hardly know in which category to place the sense of humor, 
which the ever-delightful Mrs. McFadyen — "Our Sermon 
Taster" — found so necessary for the preacher, and for which 
no examination was provided at "the college." Wit is, of 
course, of the intellect, and humor that is not illuminated by 
wit is apt to become a dull affair ; but humor in itself seems 
to be a part of human sympathy, showing one open-hearted 
to human fellowship, as well as open-eyed to human fun — 
and folly. Dr. Hoge's sense of the ridiculous was keen, and 
its keenness saved him from those offences against the pro- 
prieties that so often lead to the proverbial step out of the 
sublime. For that which was amusing without being painful 
lie had great relish. His laugh was soft, but genuine, and 
often punctuated his own telling of that which amused him. 
Sometimes he would revel in the various aspects of a subject 
that touched his sense of humor, bringing out one delightful 
point in the picture after another with gentle merriment. 
He was never more charming than when in this vein. It 
gave a genial glow to his conversation, interspersed with the 
flash and sparkle of now and then a witty thrust. He and 
his brother especially delighted in drollery with each other. 
How rich was his description of the parting salutation of 
three maiden sisters in his congregation — he was not fond 
•of kissing at its best — 

"Thrice flew the darts, and thrice my peace was slain." 

How delightful his reply to his brother, who, when he 
had received his first semi-annual salary in Baltimore, wrote 
him to know "how a man should look when he presented a 
•check for a thousand dollars," to take it "with a jaded air" — 

1 A few of his prayers are published in the Appendix. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



as one to whom such things had become a weariness ! How 
racy his brother's suggestion that the monument of a certain 
editor should be "a huge typographical error." Once the 
two were in the same church, without knowledge of each 
other's presence, when a good brother was to preach whose 
fondness for the word "stupendous" had often amused them. 
The sermon was so far on before the word came out that 
Dr. Hoge feared — as he afterwards said — that "he and stu- 
pendous had fallen out," but when at last it came, ore 
rotundo, the eyes of the brothers met across the church. But 
in all this "excellent fooling" there was never any sting. Dr. 
Hoge's earlier letters were often illustrated with caricature, 
but it would rarely have caused anything but amusement if 
it had come under the eye of its subject. On the platform 
Dr. Hoge freely indulged his humor, but in the pulpit, even 
when preaching to children, his standard was very severe. 
It was a constant wonder to him that ministers should think 
there was no way to preach to children except to make them 
laugh. In ecclesiastical assemblies, while he did not object 
to a little mingling of gay with grave in debate, he felt that 
too free merriment lowered the dignity and marred the deco- 
rum of such bodies. On solemn and sacred occasions, when 
others are most easily moved to laughter by what is ludicrous 
or amusing, he seemed to have lost even the power to be 
amused. 

This contrast between ready sympathy and strong repres- 
sion ran through all his emotions. If his sympathies had not 
been quick and warm and deep, he could never have had the 
power over the human heart that he so conspicuously pos- 
sessed. He could throw himself readily into the mind of a 
child, and see with his eyes, leading him on through tales of 
wonder and endless delight. Or he would join the little ones 
in their play with apparently as much happiness to himself as 
he gave to them. A lady from her window saw him stop 
one morning in his walk and hold his cane nearly to the 
ground for two tiny men to jump over. As they gained con- 



Character and Work. 



411 



fidence, he raised it a little until their limit was reached^ 
when he went on gaily with his walk, leaving them with 
much higher opinions both of themselves and of him. 

During a visit from his niece, Mrs. Wardlaw, whose home 
was in Brazil, he would take her little child on his shoulder 
and prance and leap about the room like a colt. Asking of 
his niece the Portuguese word for horse, he told the child 
that he was her cavallo. Some time after, when she heard 
some allusion to "Uncle Moses," she said, "Oh ! yes, he was 
my cavallo" That was her little conception of the man. 

And as he rejoiced with those that rejoiced, so he wept 
with those that wept — not "idle tears," but, if tears at all,, 
tears of genuine helpfulness and sympathy. Of practical 
help he gave entirely too much. Theoretically, he ap- 
proved of organized charity and knew the dangers of in- 
discriminate giving, which melancholy experience running 
through many years abundantly confirmed ; but he was born 
too soon to learn the practice of this creed, and he rarely 
refused help to any one. His house, too, was on a prominent 
corner, immediately next to his church, and an incessant 
stream of applicants found him without difficulty; and, as 
he always valued his time more than his money, often to save 
the precious moments, he would cut short the interruption 
by doing what was asked, even when against his judgment. 
To his brother ministers in less favored circumstances he 
was a constant friend, and many were the checks that went 
from his little study to relieve burdened hearts and make 
them preach with freer spirit the gospel of love. 

And in all sorrow his tender heart was a fellow-sufferer. 
He had known sorrow ; the deepest sorrows of life ; and with 
a deeper significance he could echo the words of the heathen 
queen — 

"Non ignara mali, miseris sucurrere disco," 

for he served One of whom it could be said, "We have not 
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities ; but was tempted in all points like as we are." 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



No one ever saw Dr. Hoge in the chamber of sickness or the 
house of mourning, no one ever heard the inexpressible pa- 
thos of his voice in prayer for those who were in sorrow, or 
in sin; in recounting a touching incident, or in making a 
moving appeal, who did not feel that inexhaustible fountains 
of tenderness lay behind his words. People used to say there 
were "tears in his voice." 

They were not often in his eyes. His power of repression 
and self-command was manifest here as in the play of his 
humor. He mastered his emotion, and thereby the emotions 
of others. He was seldom mastered by it. Sometimes the 
strong man was bowed, as when a beloved daughter told him 
that she must undergo a severe and dangerous operation, he 
sank on the floor, buried his face in her lap, and sobbed like 
a child, saying, "I never expect to be happy again." But this 
was never in public, and is only told now that men may know 
the strength of those emotions that he kept under such strong 
control. 

The same was true of those more strenuous passions of 
our nature. Without such passions he could not have been 
a leader and a master of strong men. In his youth and early 
manhood he was of violent temper; but he learned that 
temperance, which Ruskin says is "the power that controls 
the most intense energy, and prevents its acting in any way 
except as it ought." Such a nature is like steam — very dan- 
gerous in a defective boiler, but controlled in a mighty 
engine, what a power for good ! In the pulpit his indigna- 
tion would sometimes blaze forth against some wrong with 
the very white heat of passion, or a torrent of denunciation 
would burst forth and threaten to sweep all before it ; but in 
private he never stormed. If he was displeased, it was mani- 
fested, not by what he said, but by what he did not say, unless 
lie felt it incumbent to administer a rebuke; which he did 
gently, or scathingly, as the case seemed to require; but 
never with passion. This constant self-mastery was the 
secret of his mastery of others. 



Character and Work. 



413- 



It was also the secret — or one secret — of his mastery of an 
audience. The deliberation with which he surveyed an 
audience before he began to speak was sometimes embarrass- 
ing to those who did not know him. A minister in another 
city for whom he was preaching says that when Dr. Hoge 
arose and stood in silence, he said to himself, "J ones > you: 
will have to preach to-day; that man's sick.'' A few min- 
utes after he began, he thought, ''Jones, you will not have to* 
preach to-day," and after fifteen minutes, "Jones, you never 
did preach in your life." What strangers sometimes — not 
often — mistook for hesitation was only deliberation. He 
was gauging the audience and riveting their attention. The 
same deliberation kept him from being thrown off his feet by 
embarrassing situations. Once, at the height of his powers, 
he had to deliver an address at the University of Virginia. 
Driven by other work, he had left most of his preparation to 
the night before leaving home. He sat up late, and he 
worked hard, but "the chariot wheels drave heavily." The 
next morning was full of work, and in the afternoon he took 
the train, studying his notes on the way. On leaving the 
train he forgot his notes and left them in the car. He went 
straight to his room and spent the time before the lecture 
straightening out his thoughts, taking only a cup of tea in 
his room. He went to the hall and found himself, of course, 
before a brilliant audience. For a while all went well, but 
suddenly his train of thought left him. He betook himself 
to the college boy's expedient of a glass of water, but in his- 
case it excited no suspicion. He recalled the thought as he 
was drinking, but, wishing to fix it all clearly before he spoke- 
again, he stood purposely feeling for his handkerchief in 
every pocket but the right one. At last he "found" it, de- 
liberately wiped his mouth, and proceeded with his address,, 
not only without a hitch, but with growing interest and 
power to the end. He found afterwards that no one had 
even suspected his embarrassment. 

The mingled strength and sympathy of Dr. Hoge's char- 



414 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



acter, was just the strength and sympathy of his creed. The 
God of the Calvinist is a God of inexorable justice, and yet 
of infinite compassion. The gospel of the Calvinist satisfies 
inexorable law by a sacrifice of infinite love. The faith of 
the Calvinist is willing to leave all things to God's eternal 
decree, because it trusts his unerring wisdom and his un- 
fathomable love. The conscience of the Calvinist requires 
implicit obedience, because the heart has answered unmerited 
love by absolute devotion. Calvinism, in the sympathy and 
self-sacrifice with which it seeks to save men, is a constant 
repetition of Samson's riddle, "Out of the strong came forth 
sweetness." 

Dr. Hoge inherited this creed, with the martyr blood of 
those who had held it, and for the sake of it loved not their 
lives unto death. Under its forming influence his youthful 
mind grew into a knowledge of God and his universe. In 
his maturity he embraced it with the approval of his intellect 
and the devotion of his heart. He loved the history of its 
heroic past; the homes it had blessed, the men it had pro- 
duced, the martyrs who had died for it. He rejoiced in the 
progress and achievements of its living present; its institu- 
tions of learning, its missionary enterprises, and its great 
representative councils. The inconsistencies of his creed 
were just the inconsistencies of his character. Strong, yet 
tender; unyielding, but gentle; principles like flint and 
sympathies like wax; intense devotion to his own church 
and creed, sincere fellowship with all others. Such is the 
faith, such was the man. Read the riddle of the one, and you 
have solved the problem of the other. 

This faith he kept freshly flowing and glowing bright by 
the active work he did for God, of which we have seen much ; 
and by the hours he spent alone with God and His word, of 
which we have said little. What passed behind the closed 
door of that little study we know no more than we do of 
those nights in the desert and on the mountain which his 
Lord passed in prayer. He kept no diary to register his 



Character and Work. 



415 



spiritual temperature, like the old divines ; and he had none 
of the modern cant that boasts of spiritual experiences. Men 
only knew this : that when he came forth he was transfigured 
before them ; that when he reasoned of righteousness, tem- 
perance and judgment to come, they trembled; that the 
powers of the world to come became very real and present to 
their lives, and Christ and heaven very precious to their 
souls. 

And were there no faults in this character? Oh, yes! 
Some of them, faults of nature, we have spoken of as over- 
come by grace. Some, perhaps, continued, at least as foibles, 
to the end ; but what of these ? Would their recital make the 
picture truer? Does the artist paint by the microscope? 
There are spots in the sun — 

1 ' The very source and fount of day- 
Is dashed with wandering isles of night." 

But the eye does not see them; we only rejoice in the light 
and life and heat. There is fault and folly enough in the 
world that we do not have to seek for. When God gives us 
one who is "a burning and a shining light," we should be 
"willing for a season to rejoice in his light," and through 
it to look more lovingly and longingly for "the true Light 
that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." 

Such — at least in part — was the man as we have known 
him, who for over half a century preached in one city to ever- 
thronging multitudes the everlasting gospel of the grace of 
God, and who in midsummer kept churches in strange cities 
filled with crowds eager to hear the same gospel ; who pre- 
sented Christ and the better life to thousands of young col- 
lege men and women all over our land; who preached to 
over a hundred thousand soldiers and twice jeoparded his 
life in running the blockade to secure for them the word of 
God ; who was known and loved on four continents, and was 
heard with honor in the highest councils of the church; who 
was welcomed in the homes of the great, the friend of nobles 
and statesmen, and ministered with love and sympathy in the 



416 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



cottages of the poor, and in the crowded tenements of the 
slums; who, in all circumstances and under all conditions, 
adorned and dignified the title of man, of gentleman, and of 
minister; to whom Christians of every name gave prece- 
dence as an uncrowned prince of the church, and whom all 
citizens delighted to honor as the first citizen of the common- 
wealth ; who toiled with unflagging devotion from youth to 
old age in the service of God and his fellow-men, and fell at 
his post in the midst of his labors ; who left three churches 
as his monument in the city of his labor and his love, and 
who left as the inscription for his simple tomb only this : 

MOSES DRURY HOGE. 
Born September 17, 1818. Died January 6, 1899. 
For fifty-four years pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, 
Richmond, Va. 

At the memorial service held in his honor a few weeks 
after his death (February 5, 1899), the prayers were offered 
by the Rev. J. C. Stewart and the Rev. Donald Guthrie ; the 
Old Testament lesson was read by Rabbi Calisch, and the 
New Testament lesson by the Rev. Paul Menzel, of the 
Lutheran Church. The speakers were introduced by Gover- 
nor J. Hoge Tyler, and addresses were made by Dr. Tudor, 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; Dr. W. W. Moore, on 
behalf of the Second Presbyterian Church ; Bishop Penick, 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; the Rev. Mr. Garrison, 
of the Disciples' Church ; Dr. Hatcher, of the Baptist Church, 
and Dr. Kerr on behalf of the Presbyterian Ministers' Asso- 
ciation. The anthem was — 

" Now the laborer's task is done," 
and the hymns — 

" Who, O Lord, when life is o'er," 

" For all the saints, who from their labors rest," 

" Give me the wings of faith to rise," 

and — 

" Jerusalem the golden." 

The benediction was pronounced by Dr. James P. Smith. 



Character and Work. 



4i7 



With the masterly address of Dr. Moore we close; with 
only this prayer : that if those of us who survive cannot be 
as great, we may be as faithful ; and if our light shine not 
so far, it may at least shine as true. 

Address of Rev. Dr. W. W. Moore. 

Few men in any walk of life have ever so deeply impressed 
an entire community with the power of a noble personality as 
the lamented servant of God whose virtues and labors we 
commemorate to-day. Certainly no minister of the gospel 
in all the history of this ancient commonwealth was ever 
accorded a position so eminent by the public at large. This 
popular estimate was deliberate and exact. The people 
knew him. For more than fifty years, through storm and 
sunshine, in war and peace, they had studied his character 
and watched his work, and they have rendered their verdict : 
that Moses D. Hoge was a man; a strong, wise, high- 
minded, great-hearted, heroic man; that through all these 
years of stress and toil and publicity he wore the white 
flower of a blameless life; and that he preached the gospel of 
the grace of God with a dignity and authority and tender- 
ness, with a beauty and pathos and power which have rarely, 
if ever, been surpassed in the annals of the American 
pulpit. 

Long before the close of his consecrated career he had 
taken his place in public interest even by the side of those 
stately memorials of this historic city which men have come 
from the ends of the earth to see — the bronze and marble 
reminders of the men who have forever associated the name 
of Virginia with eloquence and virtue and valor. No visitor 
who had come from a distant State or a land beyond the 
seas, to look upon these memorials of the great Virginians 
of former days, felt that his visit to Richmond was complete 
till he had seen and heard the man who, though an humble 
minister of the Cross, was by common consent the most 
eminent living citizen of a commonwealth which has always 



4i8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



been peculiarly rich in gifted sons. It was his privilege to 
preach to a larger number of the men whose commanding in- 
fluence in public life, in the learned professions, or in the 
business world, had conferred prosperity and honor upon the 
State, than any other spiritual teacher of the time. He was 
more frequently the spokesman of the people on great public 
occasions than any other man whom Richmond has delighted 
to honor. He was more frequently the subject of conversa- 
tion in the social circle than any other member of this 
cosmopolitan community. In every community where he 
once appeared his name was thenceforth a household word. 
It is not my province at present to speak of these things. I 
allude to them only in order to emphasize the fact that the 
explanation of this preeminence in public esteem lay largely 
in the character of his work in the pulpit. That was his 
throne. There he was king. 

In attempting to comply with the request of the session of 
his church to say something to-day in regard to this out- 
standing feature of Dr. Hoge's work, a feeling of peculiar 
sadness comes over my heart. It will be many a long day 
before any man who knew him can stand in this pulpit 
without a sense of wistful loneliness at thought of that 
venerated figure, with its resolute attitudes and ringing 
tones, which for fifty-four fruitful years stood in this place 
as God's ambassador, laying the multitude under the en- 
chantment of his eloquence, diffusing through this sanctu- 
ary the aroma of his piety, and lifting sad and weary hearts 
to heaven on the wings of his wonderful prayers. As some 
one has said of the death of another illustrious preacher, we 
feel like children who had long sheltered under a mighty 
oak ; and now the old oak has gone down and we are out in 
the open sun. We hardly knew, till he fell, how much we 
had sheltered under him. His presence was a protection. 
His voice was a power. His long-established leadership was 
a rallying centre for the disheartened soldiers of the 
cross. 



Character and Work. 



419 



We do not murmur at the dispensation which has taken 
fiim from us — 

"But oh for the touch of a vanished hand 
And the sound of a voice that is still." 

There were certain physical features of his preaching 
which are perfectly familiar to all who have heard him even 
once, and which will be remembered by them forever, but 
which cannot be made known by description to those who 
have not. When he rose in the pulpit, tall, straight, slender, 
sinewy, commanding, with something vital and electric in 
his very movements, yet singularly deliberate, and, lifting 
'his chin from his collar with a peculiar movement, surveyed 
the people before him and on either side, with his grave, in- 
tellectual face and almost melancholy eyes, no one needed to 
be told that there stood a master of assemblies. The atten- 
tion was riveted by his appearance and manner before he had 
uttered a word. 

As soon as he began to speak, the clear, rich and resonant 
tones, reaching without effort to the limits of the largest 
•assembly, revealed to every hearer another element of his 
power to move and mould the hearts of men. To few of the 
world's masters of discourse has it been given to demonstrate 
as he did the music and spell of the human voice. It was a 
voice in a million — flexible, magnetic, thrilling, clear as a 
clarion, by turns tranquil and soothing, strenuous and stir- 
ring, as the speaker willed, now mellow as a cathedral bell 
heard in the twilight, now ringing like a trumpet or rolling 
through the building like melodious thunder, with an occa- 
sional impassioned crash like artillery, accompanied by a 
resounding stamp of his foot on the floor; but never un- 
pleasant or uncontrolled or overstrained ; no one ever heard 
him scream or tear his throat. Some of his cadences in the 
utterance of particular words or sentiments lingered on the 
ear and haunted the memory for years like a strain of ex- 
quisite music. As you listened to his voice in prayer, "there 
ran through its pathetic fall a vibration as though the min- 



420 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



ister's heart was singing like an iEolian harp as the breath 
of the Spirit of God blew through its strings." It was a 
voice that adapted itself with equal felicity to all occasions. 
When he preached to the whole of General D. H. Hill's 
division in the open air, it rang like a bugle to the outermost 
verge of his vast congregation. When he stood on the slope 
of Mt. Ebal in Palestine and recited the twenty-third Psalm, 
it was heard distinctly by the English clergyman on the other 
side of the valley, three-quarters of a mile away. When the 
body of an eminent statesman and ruling elder in his church 
was borne into this building and laid before the pulpit, and 
the preacher rose and said, "Mark the perfect man and be- 
hold the upright, for the end of that man is peace," the sym- 
pathetic intonations fell like healing balm on wounded 
hearts. When he stood in the Senate Chamber at Washing- 
ton beside the mortal remains of the Carolinian, and said to 
the assembled representatives of the greatness of this nation 
and of the world, "There is nothing great but God;" the 
voice and the words alike impressed the insignificance of all- 
human concerns as compared with religion. When he stood 
in the chancel of St. Paul's and stretched his hand over the 
casket containing the pallid form of "the daughter of the 
Confederacy," and said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God," it had the authority and tenderness of a 
prophet's benediction. 

Of the intellectual qualities of his preaching, the first that 
impressed the hearer was the exquisite phrasing. He was a 
marvellous magician with words. He was the prince of 
pulpit rhetoricians. He had made himself a master of the 
art of verbal expression, because, to use his own words, he 
knew that "style was the crystallization of thought," and he- 
believed that "royal thoughts ought to wear royal robes." 
The splendid powers with which he was endowed by nature^ 
had been at once enriched and chastened by the strenuous 
study of the world's best books. Every cultivated person 
recognized the flavor of ripe scholarship in his diction and 



Character and Work. 



421 



even those devoid of culture felt its charm without being 
able to define it. The mellow splendor of his rhetoric capti- 
vated all classes of hearers. This rare beauty of his lan- 
guage, this exquisite drapery of his thoughts, sometimes 
tempted superficial hearers to regard him as merely a skilful 
phrase-maker. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 
He was a superb rhetorician because he was a true scholar 
and a profound theologian. His rhetoric drew deep. The 
ocean greyhound, which seems to skim the billows, does in 
fact plow deep beneath their surface, and hence the safety of 
her cargo of human lives and precious wares. This master- 
ful preacher was easy and swift — he distanced all his 
brethren — but he was always safe, and his ministry had the 
momentum which only weight can give. All his life long 
he was a student — a student of books, a student of men, a 
student of the deep things of God. When men beheld the 
external splendor of the temple of Jerusalem, with its walls 
and roofs of white marble, surmounted with plates and spikes 
of glittering gold, they sometimes forgot the immense sub- 
structions built deep into the ground and resting upon the 
everlasting rock; but without that cyclopean masonry hid- 
den from view, those snowy walls of marble and those sky- 
piercing pinnacles of gold could not have been. Dr. Hoge's 
surpassing beauty of statement was bottomed on eternal 
truth. 

He was, therefore, not only an orator, but a teacher. His 
sermons were not only brilliant in form, but rich in truth. 
So that not only in point of finish, but also in point of force 
he ranks with the masters of the contemporary pulpit. It is 
true that many of his later discourses were somewhat dis- 
cursive in treatment, necessarily so because of the innumer- 
able demands upon his time, but he never failed to bring 
beaten oil to the sanctuary when it was possible, and he never 
for a moment relinquished or lowered his conception of the 
teaching function of the ministry. His people were not only 
interested and entertained, but they were fed and nourished 



422 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



with truth. The lecture which he delivered at the University 
of Virginia forty-nine years ago on "The Success of Chris- 
tianity, an Evidence of its Divine Origin," and known to 
some of you from its publication in the portly volume entitled 
Evidences of Christianity, is a noble specimen of the kind of 
work he was capable of when he was at his best. I venture 
the assertion, though it seems a sweeping one, that in the 
whole realm of apologetic literature there is not a more 
polished or more powerful demonstration of the truth of 
Christianity. I have often wished that it might be published 
separately and thus given a wider circulation. 

His substantial attainments, then, were no less remarkable 
than his graces of speech ; but here we have sighted a subject 
too large for the limits of this address. To use Dr. Breed's 
figure, a small island can be explored in a few hours, but not 
a wide continent. The one may be characterized in a word, 
but not the other. This island is a bank of sand, that one a 
smiling pasture, a third a mass of cliffs, a fourth a mountain 
peak : but the continent is a vast combination of all these 
features, indefinitely multiplied. So the gifts of some men 
are insular and may be summed up in a few words, but the 
gifts of the man in whose memory we are assembled to-day 
were continental. Every one that had heard him even once 
saw that there were here peaceful valleys where the grass 
grew green, and the sweet flowers bloomed, and streams ran 
rippling; but those who sailed farther along shore found 
that there were also mighty cliffs where his convictions 
defied the waves of passing opinion ; and when they pushed 
their explorations into the interior, they came upon great 
uplands of philosophy, where the granite of a strong the- 
ology protruded, and where the snows of doctrine lay deep ; 
but the thoughtful explorer knew well that the granite was 
essential to the solidity of those towering heights and that 
without those snows upon the peaks there would have been 
no streams in the valleys, no broad reaches of meadow, no 
blooming flowers. He was indeed a superb rhetorician, with 



Character and Work. 



423 



a marvellous wealth of diction, a phenomenal power of de- 
scription, and a rare felicity of illustration; but rhetoric in 
the pulpit has no abiding charm apart from truth. Strong 
men and thoughtful women do not sit for fifty-four years in 
ever-increasing numbers under a ministry which has not in 
it the strength of Divine truth, deeply studied, sincerely be- 
lieved, and earnestly proclaimed. 

We have now seen something of what he was in his 
preaching as a man, and something of what he was as a 
scholar, but after all the hiding of his power lay in what he 
was as a saint. Nature had done much for him. Cultivation 
had done much; but grace had done most of all. He 
preached from a true and profound experience of the mercy 
and power of God. He knew the deadly evil of sin. He 
knew the saving grace of Christ. He knew the brooding 
sorrows of the human heart. He knew the comfort of com- 
munion with God. He knew that the gospel was God's 
supreme answer to man's supreme need; and the crowning 
glory of this pulpit is that, from the first day of its occu- 
pancy to the last, it rang true to that evangel : "Behold the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." There 
was never a day in all these fifty-four years when men could 
not have pointed to him as to the original of Cowper's im- 
mortal portrait — 

1 ' There stands the messenger of truth : there stands 
The legate of the skies ! — his theme divine, 
His office sacred, his credentials clear. 
By him the violated law speaks out 
Its thunders ; and by him, in strains as sweet 
As angels use, the gospel whispers peace. 
He stablishes the strong, restores the weak, 
Reclaims the wanderer, binds the broken heart. 
And, arm'd himself in panoply complete 
Of heavenly temper, furnishes with arms 
Bright as his own, and trains, by every rule 
Of holy discipline, to glorious war, 
The sacramental host of God's elect ! " 



APPENDIX. 



i. 

ORATION 

^At the Unveiling of the Statue of Stonewall Jackson, in the 
Capitol Square, Richmond, Va., October 26, 1876. 

Were I permitted at this moment to consult my own wishes. 
I would bid the thunder of the cannon and the acclamations of 
the people announce the unveiling of the statue; and then, 
when with hearts beating with commingled emotions of love 
and grief and admiration, we had contemplated this last and 
noblest creation of the great sculptor, the ceremonies of this 
august hour should end. 

In attempting to commence my oration, I am forcibly re- 
minded of the faltering words with which Bossuet began his 
splendid eulogy on the Prince of Conde. Said he: "At the 
moment I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory of the 
Prince of Conde I find myself equally overwhelmed by the 
greatness of the theme and the needlessness of the task. What 
part of the habitable world has not heard of his victories and 
the wonders of his life ? Everywhere they are rehearsed. His 
own countrymen in extolling them can give no information 
•even to the stranger. And although I may remind you of 
them, yet everything I could say would be anticipated by your 
thoughts, and I should suffer the reproach of falling far below 
them." 

How true is all this to-day ! Not only is every important 
event in the life of our illustrious chieftain familiar to you all, 
but what lesson to be derived from his example has not already 
been impressively enforced by those whose genius, patriotism 
and piety have qualified them to speak in terms worthy of 
their noble theme? And now that the statesman and soldier, 
who well represents the honor of Virginia as its chief magis- 
trate, has given his warm and earnest welcome to our distin- 



426 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



guished guests from other States and from other lands who 
grace this occasion by their presence, I would not venture to 
proceed, had not the Commonwealth laid on me its command 
to utter some words of greeting to my fellow-countrymen, who 
this day do honor to themselves in rendering homage to the 
memory of Virginia's illustrious son. 

I cannot repress an emotion of awe as I vainly attempt to 
overlook the mighty throng, extending as it does beyond the 
limits of these Capitol grounds, and covering spaces which 
cannot even be reached by the eye of the speaker. More impres- 
sive is this assemblage of citizens and representatives from all 
parts of our own and of foreign lands, than ever gathered on 
the banks of the ancient Alpheus at one of the solemnities 
which united the men of all the Grecian States and attracted 
strangers from the most distant countries. There was indeed 
one pleasing feature in the old Hellenic festivals. The entire 
territory around Olympia was consecrated to peace during their 
celebration, and there even enemies might meet as friends and 
brothers, and in harmony rejoice in their ancestral glories and 
national renown. It is so with us to-day. But how deficient 
in moral interest was the old Olympiad, and how wanting in 
one feature which gives grace to our solemnity. No citizen, no 
stranger, however honored, was permitted to bring with him 
either mother, wife, or daughter ; but here to-day how many of 
the noble women of the land, of whom the fabled Alcestis, 
Antigone, and Iphigenia were but the imperfect types, lend the 
charm of their presence to the scene — Christian women of a 
nobler civilization than Pagan antiquity ever knew. 

We have come from the seashore, the mountains and the 
valleys of our South-land, not only to inaugurate a statue, but 
a new era in our history. Here on this Capitoline Hill, on this 
26th day of October, 1875, and in the one hundredth year of 
the Commonwealth of Virginia, in sight of that historic river 
that more than two centuries and a half ago bore on its bosom 
the bark freighted with the civilization of the North American 
Continent, on whose banks Powhatan wielded his sceptre and 
Pocahontas launched her skiff, under the shadow of that Capi- 
tol whose foundations were laid before the present Federal 
Constitution was framed, and from which the edicts of Virginia 
went forth over her realm that stretched from the Atlantic to- 
the Mississippi — edicts framed by some of the patriots whose 
manly forms on yonder monument still gather around him 
whose name is the purest in human history — we have met to 



Appendix. 



427 



inaugurate a new Pantheon to the glory of our common 
mother. 

In the story of the empires of the earth some crisis often 
occurs which develops the genius of the era, and impresses an 
imperishable stamp on the character of a whole people. 

Such a crisis was the Revolution of 1776, when thirteen 
thinly-settled and widely-separated colonies dared to offer the 
gage of battle to the greatest military and naval power on the 
globe. 

The story of that struggle is the most familiar in American 
annals. After innumerable reverses, and incredible sufferings 
and sacrifices, our fathers came forth from the ordeal victori- 
ous. And though during the progress of the strife, before calm 
reflection had quieted the violence of inflamed passion, they 
were branded by opprobrious names and their revolt denounced 
as rebellion and treason, the justice of their cause, and the 
wisdom, the valor and the determination with which they vin- 
dicated it, were quickly recognized and generously acknow- 
ledged by the bravest and purest of British soldiers and states- 
men; so that now, when we seek the noblest eulogies of the 
founders of American republicanism, we find them in the writ- 
ings of the essayists and historians of the mother-country. We 
honor ourselves and do homage to virtue, when we hallow the 
names of those who in the council and in the field achieved such 
victories. We bequeath an influence which will bless coming- 
generations, when with the brush and the chisel we perpetuate 
the images of our fathers and the founders of the State. 
Already has the noble office been begun. Here on this hill 
the forms of Washington, and Henry, and Lewis, and Mason, 
and Nelson, and Jefferson, and Marshall, arrest our eyes and 
make their silent but salutary and stirring appeals to our 
hearts. Nor are these all who merit eternal commemoration. 
As I look on that monument, I miss James Madison and others 
of venerable and illustrious name. Let us not cease our patri- 
otic work until we have reared a Pantheon worthy of the undy- 
ing glory of the past. 

But this day we inaugurate a new era. We lay the corner- 
stone of a new Pantheon in commemoration of our country's 
fame. We come to honor the memory of one who was the 
impersonation of our Confederate cause, and whose genius- 
illuminated the great contest which has recently ended, and 
which made an epoch not only in our own history, but in that 
of the age. 



428 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



We assert no monopoly in the glory of that leader. It was 
"his happy lot to command, even while he lived, the respect and 
admiration of right-minded and right-hearted men in every 
part of this land, and in all lands. It is now his rare distinction 
to receive the homage of those who most differed with him on 
the questions which lately rent this republic in twain from ocean 
to ocean. From the North and from the South, from the East 
and from the West, men have gathered on these grounds to-day, 
widely divergent in their views on social, political and religious 
topics ; and yet they find in the attraction which concentrates 
their regard upon one name, a place where their hearts unex- 
pectedly touch each other and beat in strange unison. 

It was this attractive moral excellence which, winning the 
love and admiration of the brave and pure on the other side 
of the sea, prompted them to enlist the genius of one of the 
greatest of modern sculptors in fashioning the statue we have 
met to inaugurate this day. 

It is a singular and striking illustration of the world-wide 
appreciation of his character that the first statue of Jackson 
comes from abroad, and that while the monument to our own 
Washington, and the effigies of those who surround him, were 
erected by order of the Commonwealth, this memorial is the 
tribute of the admiration and love of those who never saw his 
face, and who were bound to him by no ties save those which a 
common sympathy for exalted worth establishes between the 
souls of magnanimous and heroic men. We accept this noble 
gift all the more gratefully because it comes from men of 
kindred race and kindred heart, as the expression of their 
good-will and sympathy for our people as well as of their admi- 
ration for the genius and character of our illustrious hero. 

We accept it as the visible symbol of the ancient friendship 
which existed in colonial times between Virginia and the 
mother-country. We accept it as a prophecy of the incoming 
•of British settlers to our sparsely-populated territory, and hail 
it as a pleasing omen for the future that the rebuilding of our 
shattered fortunes should be aided by the descendants of the 
men who laid the foundations of this Commonwealth. We 
accept it as a pledge of the peaceful relations which we trust 
will ever exist between Great Britain and the confederated 
•empire formed by the United States of America. 

In the first memorial discourse that was delivered after his 
lamented death, the question was asked, "How did it happen 
that a man who so recently was known to but a small circle, 



Appendix. 



and to them only as a laborious, punctilious, humble-minded 
Professor in a Military Institute, in so brief a space of time 
gathered around his name so much of the glory which encircles 
the name of Napoleon, and so much of the love that enshrines 
the memory of Washington?" And soon after, in the memoir 
which will go down to coming generations as the most faithful 
portraiture of its subject and an enduring monument of the 
genius of its author, the inquiry was resumed, "How is it that 
this man, of all others least accustomed to exercise his own 
fancy or address that of others, has stimulated the imagination 
not only of his own countrymen, but that of the civilized world? 
How has he, the most unromantic of great men, become the 
hero of a living romance, the ideal of an inflamed fancy, even 
before his life has been invested with the mystery of distance?" 
From that day to this these inquiries have been propounded in 
every variety of form, and with an ever-increasing interest. 

To answer these questions will be one object of this dis- 
course ; and yet the public will not expect me, in so doing, to 
furnish a new delineation of the life of Jackson, or a rehearsal 
of the story of his campaigns. Time does not permit this, 
neither does the occasion demand it. By a brief series of ascend- 
ing propositions do I seek to furnish the solution. I find an 
explanation of the regard in which the memory of Jackson is 
cherished — 

ist. In the fact that he was the incarnation of those heroic 
qualities which fit their possessor to lead and command men, 
and which, therefore, always attract the admiration, kindle the 
imagination and arouse the enthusiasm of the people. 

There is a natural element in humanity which constrains it to 
honor that which is strong, and adventurous and indomitable. 
Decision, fortitude, inflexibility, intrepidity, determination, 
when consecrated to noble ends, and especially when associated 
with a gentleness which throws a softened charm over these 
sterner attributes, ever win and lead captive the popular heart. 

The masses who compose the commonalty, consciously weak 
and irresolute, instinctively gather around the men of loftier 
stature in whom they find the great forces wanting in them- 
selves, and spontaneously follow the call of those whom they 
think competent to redress their wrongs and vindicate their 
rights. 

These are the leaders who are welcomed by the people with 
open arms, and elevated to the high places of the earth, to 
become the regents of society — to develop the history of the 



43Q 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



age in which they live, and to impress upon it the noble image 
of their own personality. 

As discoverers love to trace great rivers to their sources, so 
in our studies of the characters of those who have filled large 
spaces in the public eye, it interests us to go backward in search 
of the rudimentary germs which afterwards developed into the 
great qualities which commanded the admiration of the world. 

Never was the adag'e, "the child is the father of the man," 
more strikingly illustrated than in the early history of the 
orphan boy whose name subsequently became a tower of 
strength to the armies he commanded, and to the eleven sover- 
eign States banded and battling together for a separate national 
life. 

There is no more graphic picture in the pages of Macaulay 
than that of Warren Hastings, at the age of seven lying on the 
bank of a rivulet which flowed through the broad lands which 
were once the property of his ancestors, and there forming the 
resolve that all that domain should one day be his, and never 
abandoning his purpose through all the vicissitudes of his 
stormy life, until, as the "Hastings of Daylesford," he tasted 
a joy which his heart never knew in the command of the mil- 
lions over whom he ruled in the Indian empire. 

But stranger still was it to see a pensive, delicate orphan- 
child of the same age, the inheritor of a feeble constitution, 
yet with a will even more indomitable than that of Warren 
Hastings, renouncing his home with a relative, who, mistaking 
his disposition, had attempted to govern him by force, and alone 
and on foot performing a journey of eighteen miles to the house 
of another kinsman, where he suddenly presented himself, an- 
nouncing his unalterable resolve never to return to his former 
home — a decision which no remonstrances or persuasions could 
induce him to revoke; and stranger still to see him, the year 
after, on a lonely island of the Mississippi river, in company 
with another child a few years his senior, maintaining himself 
by his own labor, until driven by malaria from the desolate spot 
where, beneath the dreary forests and beside the angry floods 
of the father of waters, he had displayed the self-reliance and 
hardihood of a man, at a period of life when children are ordi- 
narily scarcely out of the nursery. This inflexibility of purpose 
and defiance of hardship and danger in the determination to 
succeed was displayed in all his subsequent career — whether 
we see him at West Point, overcoming the disadvantages of a 
deficient preliminary education by a severity of application 



Appendix. 



43i 



almost unparalleled, in accordance with the motto he inscribed 
in bold characters on a page in his common-place book, "You 
may be whatever you resolve to be" — or whether we follow 
him through the Mexican campaign, winning his first laurels 
at Cherubusco, and at Chepultepec, where he received his 
second promotion — or whether we accompany him to his quiet 
retreat in Lexington, where, after the termination of the Mexi- 
can war, he filled the post of Professor in the Military Insti- 
tute, and there affording a new exhibition of his determination 
in overcoming obstacles more formidable than those encoun- 
tered in the field, in the persistent discharge of every duty in 
spite of feeble health and threatened loss of sight. 

I know of no picture in his life more impressive than that 
which presents him as he sat in his study during the still hours 
of the night, unable to use book or lamp — with only a mental 
view of diagrams and models, and the artificial signs required 
in abstruse calculations, holding long and intricate processes 
of mathematical reasoning with the steady grasp of thought, 
his face turned to the blank, dark wall, until he mastered every 
difficulty and made complete preparations for the instructions 
of the succeeding day. 

These years of self-discipline and self-enforced severity of 
regimen, maintained with rigid austerity, through years of 
seclusion from public life, constituted the propitious season for 
the full maturing of those faculties whose energy was so soon 
to be displayed on a field which attracted the attention of the 
world. 

When his native State, which had long stood in the attitude 
of magnanimous mediation between the hostile sections, in the 
hope of preserving the Union which she had assisted in form- 
ing, and to whose glory she had made such contributions, was 
menaced by the rod of coercion, and compelled to decide 
between submission or separation, then Jackson, who would 
have cheerfully laid down his life to avert the disruption, in 
accordance with the principles of the political school in which 
he had been trained, and which commanded his conscientious 
assent, hesitated no longer, but went straight to his decision as 
the beam of light goes from its God to the object it illumines. 
Simultaneously with the striking of the clock which announced 
the hour of his departure with his cadets for the Camp of 
Instruction in this city, the command to march was given. 
Never was there a home dearer than his own; but he left it, 
never again to cross its threshold. From that time, as we are 



43 2 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



told, he never asked nor received a furlough — was never absent 
from duty for a day, whether sick or well, and never slept one 
night outside the lines of his own command. And passing over 
a thousand occasions which the war afforded for the exercise 
of his unconquerable will, there is something impressive in the 
fact that in the very last order which ever fell from his lips, was 
a revelation of its unabated force. After he had received his 
fatal wound, while pale with anguish, and faint with loss of 
blood, he was informed by one of his generals that the men 
under his command had been thrown into such confusion that 
he feared he could not hold his ground, the voice which was 
growing tremulous and low, thrilled the heart of that officer 
with the old authoritative tone, as he uttered his final order, 
"General, you must keep your men together and hold your 
ground." 

These were the elements which shaped Jackson's distinctive 
characteristics as a soldier and commander which may be most 
concisely stated; a natural genius for the art of war, without 
which no professional training will ever develop the highest 
order of military talent; a power of abstraction and self-con- 
centration which enabled him to determine every proper com- 
bination and disposition of his forces, without the slightest 
mental confusion — even in those supreme moments when his- 
face and form underwent a sort of transfiguration amid the 
flame and thunder of battle ; a conviction of the moral superi- 
ority of aggressive over defensive warfare in elevating the 
courage of his own men and in depressing that of the enemy; 
an almost intuitive insight into the plans of the enemy, and an 
immediate perception of the time to strike the most stunning 
blow, from the most unlooked-for quarter; a conviction of the 
necessity of following every such blow with another, and more 
terrible, so as to make every success a victory, and every victory 
so complete as to compel the speedy termination of the war. 

In the county where all that is mortal of this great hen> 
sleeps, there is a natural bridge of rock whose massive arch, 
fashioned with grace by the hand of God, springs lightly toward 
the sky, spanning a chasm into whose awful depth the beholder 
looks down bewildered and awe-struck. That bridge is among 
the cliffs what Niagara is among the waters — a visible expres- 
sion of sublimity, a glimpse of God's great strength and 
power. 

But its grandeur is not diminished because tender vines 
clamber over its gigantic piers, or because sweet-scented flow- 



Appendix. 



433 



ers nestle in its crevices and warmly color its cold gray columns. 
Nor is the granite strength of our dead chieftain's character 
weakened because in every throb of his heart there was a pul- 
sation so ineffably and exquisitely tender, as to liken him, even 
amidst the horrors of war, to the altar of pity which ancient 
mythology reared among the shrines of strong and avenging 
deities. 

This admirable commingling of strength and tenderness in 
his nature is touchingly illustrated by a letter, now for the 
first time made public. 

An officer under his command had obtained leave of absence 
to visit a stricken household. A beloved member of his family 
had just died, another was seriously ill, and he applied for an 
extension of his furlough. This is the reply : 

" My Dear Major : I have received your sad letter, and wish I 
could relieve your sorrowing heart, but human aid cannot heal the 
wound. 

" From me you have a friend's sympathy, and I wish the suffering 
condition of our country permitted me to show it. But we must 
think of the living and of those who are to come after us, and see 
that, with God's blessing, we transmit to them the freedom we have 
enjoyed. What is life without honor? Degradation is worse than 
death. It is necessary that you should be at your post immediately. 
Join me to-morrow morning. 

"Your sympathizing friend, Thomas J. Jackson." 

Not only was he sensitive to every touch of human sorrow, 
but no man was ever more susceptible to impressions from the 
physical world. The hum of bees, the fragrance of clover fields, 
the tender streaks of dawn, the dewy brightness of the early 
spring, the mellow glories of matured autumn, all by turns 
charmed and tranquillized him. The eye that so often sent its 
lightning through the smoke of battle grew soft in contemplat- 
ing the beauty of a flower. The ear that thrilled with the 
thunder of the cannonade, drank in with innocent delight the 
song of birds and the prattle of children's voices. The hand 
which guided the rush of battle on the plains of Manassas and 
the Malvern hills, was equally ready to adjust the covering 
around the tender frame of a motherless babe, when at midnight 
he rose to see if it was comfortable and warm, though its own 
father was a guest under his roof. The voice whose sharp and 
ringing tones had so often uttered the command, "Give them 
the bayonet!" culled even from foreign tongues terms of en- 



434 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



dearment for those he loved, which his own language did not 
adequately supply; and the man who filled two hemispheres 
with the story of his fame was never so happy as when he was 
telling the colored children of his Sabbath-school the story of 
the Cross. 

2. Another explanation of the universal regard with which 
his memory is hallowed conducts to a higher plane, and enables 
us to contemplate a still nobler phase of his character. His was 
the greatness which comes without being sought for its own 
sake — the unconscious greatness which results from self-sacri- 
fice and supreme devotion to duty. Duty is an altar from which 
a vestal flame is ever ascending to the skies, and he who stands 
nearest that flame catches most of its radiance, and in that light 
is himself made luminous forever. 

The day after the first battle of Manassas, and before the 
history of that victory had reached Lexington in authentic 
form, rumor, preceding any accurate account of that event, had 
gathered a crowd around the post-office awaiting with intensest 
interest the opening of the mail. In its distribution the first 
letter was handed to the Rev. Dr. White. It was from General 
Jackson. Recognizing at a glance the well-known superscrip- 
tion, the doctor exclaimed to those around him, "Now we shall 
know all the facts !" 

This was the bulletin : 

" My Dear Pastor : In my tent last night, after a fatiguing day's 
service, I remembered that I had failed to send you my contribution 
for our colored Sunday-school. Enclosed you will find my check 
for that object, which please acknowledge at your earliest conven- 
ience, and oblige. Yours, faithfully, 

" Thos. J. Jackson/' 

Not a word about a conflict which electrified a nation ! Not 
an allusion to the splendid part he had taken in it ; not a refer- 
ence to himself beyond the fact that it had been a fatiguing 
day's service. And yet that was the day ever memorable in his 
history — memorable in all history — when he received the name 
which is destined to supplant the name his parents gave him — 
Stonewall Jackson. When his brigade of twenty-six hun- 
dred men had for hours withstood the iron tempest which broke 
upon it without causing a waver in its line, and when, on his 
right, the forces under the command of the gallant General 
Bee had been overwhelmed in the rush of resistless numbers, 
then was it that the event occurred which cannot be more 



Appendix. 



435 



graphically described than in the burning words of his bio- 
grapher : 

"It was then that Bee rode up to Jackson, and, with despair- 
ing bitterness, exclaimed, 'General, they are beating us back.' 
'Then/ said Jackson, calm and curt, 'we will give them the 
bayonet.' Bee seemed to catch the inspiration of his deter- 
mined will, and, galloping back to the broken fragments of his 
overtaxed command, exclaimed, 'There is Jackson standing 
like a stone Wall. Rally behind the Virginians !' At this trum- 
pet-call a few score of his men reformed their ranks. Placing 
himself at the head, he charged the dense mass of the enemy, 
and in a moment fell dead with his face to the foe. From that 
time Jackson's was known as the Stonewall Brigade — a name 
henceforth immortal, and belonging to all the ages; for the 
christening was baptized in the blood of its author; and that 
wall of brave hearts was on every battlefield a steadfast bul- 
wark of their country." 

The letter written to his pastor in Lexington on the day fol- 
lowing that battle gives the key-note to his character. Nor on 
any occasion was he the herald of his own fame ; never, save 
by the conscientious discharge of duty, did he aid in the dis- 
semination of that fame. Never did he perform an act for the 
sake of what men might say of it; and while he felt all the 
respect for public opinion to which it is justly entitled, he was 
not thinking of what the public verdict might be, but of what 
it was right to do. The attainment of no personal ends could 
satisfy aspirations like his. To ascertain what was true, to do 
what was best, to fill up the narrow measure of life with the 
largest possible usefulness, was his single-hearted purpose. In 
such a career, if enjoyment should come, or well-earned fame, 
or augmented influence, or the power which accompanies pro- 
motion, they must all come as incidents by the way, as satellites 
which gather around a central orb, and not as the consumma- 
tion toward which he ever tended. This singleness of aim was 
inseparable from a soul so sincere. A nature like his was incap- 
able of employing the meretricious aids by which some men 
seek to heighten or advance their reputation. 

Hence he never affected mystery. His reticence was not the 
assumption of impenetrability of purpose. His reserve was not 
the artifice of one who seeks to awe by making himself unap- 
proachable. He hedged himself about with no barrier of ex- 
clusiveness. He assumed no airs of portentous dignity. He 
studied no dramatic effects. On the field, so far from conde- 



43^ 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



scending to those histrionic displays of person, or theatrical 
arts of speech, by which some commanders have sought to 
excite the enthusiasm of their armies, when his troops caught 
the sight of his faded uniform and sun-burnt cap, and shook 
the air with their shouts as he rode along the lines, he quick- 
ened his gallop and escaped from view. When among the 
mountain pyramids, older than those to which the first Napo- 
leon pointed, he did not remind his men that the centuries were 
looking down on them. When on the plain, he drilled no 
eagles to perch on his banners, as the third Napoleon was said 
to have done. But one thing he did, he impressed his men 
with such an intense conviction of his unselfish and supreme 
consecration to the cause for which he had perilled all, and so 
kindled them with his own magnetic fire as to fuse them into 
one articulated body — one heart throbbing through all the mem- 
bers, one spirit animating the entire frame — that heart, that 
spirit, his own. It was his sublime indifference to personal 
danger, to personal comfort and personal aggrandizement, that 
gave him such power over the armies he commanded, and such 
a place in the hearts of the people of the Confederate States. 

The true test of attachment to any cause is what one is will- 
ing to suffer for its advancement, and it is the spectacle of dis- 
interested devotion to the right and true at the cost of toil, and 
travail, and blood, if need be, that captivates the popular heart 
and calls forth its admiration and sweetest affection. He who 
exhibits most of this spirit is the man who unconsciously wins 
for himself enduring fame. When he passes from earth to a 
higher and diviner sphere his influence does not perish. It is not 
the transient brilliance of the meteor, but the calm radiance of 
a star, whose light, undimmed and undiminished, comes down 
to kindle all true and brave souls through immeasurable time. 
Exalted by the disinterested works he has wrought, by his 
example he elevates others, and thus becomes the trellis, strong 
and high, on which other souls may stretch themselves in the 
pursuit of whatsoever is excellent in human character and 
achievement. 

Such a man was Jackson. Such is the recognition of him 
beyond the sea, of which this statue is a token. Such is our 
appreciation of his claim upon our gratitude, upon our undying 
love, in testimony of which we gather around this statue to-day 
and crown it with the laurel, first moistened by our tears. 

3. But this universal sentiment of regard for his memory 
rests upon foundations which lie still deeper in the human 



Appendix. 



437 



heart. At the mention of his name another idea inseparably 
associated with it invariably asserts its place in the mental por- 
traiture which all men acquainted with his history have formed 
of him; and so I announce as the third and last explanation 
of the homage awarded him, the sincerity, the purity, and 
the elevation of his character as a servant of the Most High 
God. 

No one acquainted with the moral history of the world can 
for a moment doubt that religious veneration is at once the 
profoundest and most universal of human instincts ; and how- 
ever individual men may chafe at the restraints which piety 
imposes, or be indifferent to its obligations, yet there is a sen- 
timent in the popular heart which compels its homage for those 
whose character and lives most faithfully reflect the beauty of 
the Divine Image. 

When a man already eminent by great virtues and services 
attains great eminence in piety and wears the coronal of heaven 
on his brow, because the spirit of heaven has found its home 
in his heart, then the world, involuntarily, or with hearty readi- 
ness, places him on a higher pedestal, because, with their love 
and admiration for the attractive qualities of the man, there 
is mingled a veneration for the ennobling graces of the Chris- 
tian. 

I do not agree with those who ascribe all that was admirable 
in the character of Jackson, and all that was splendid in his ca- 
reer, to his religious faith. He was distinguished before faith 
became an element in his life ; and even after his faith attained 
its fullest development, it did not secure the triumph of the cause 
to which his life was a sacrifice. 

But this I 'say, that his piety heightened every virtue, gave 
direction and force to every blow it struck for that cause, and 
then consecration to the sacrifice when he laid down his life on 
the altar of his country's liberties. He was purer, stronger, 
more courageous, more efficient, because of his piety; purer, 
hecause penitence strains the soul of the corruptions which de- 
file it; stronger, because faith nerves the arm that takes hold 
on omnipotence; more courageous, because hope gives exalta- 
tion to the heroism of one who fights with the crown of life ever 
in view ; more efficient, because religion, which is but another 
name for the right use of one's own faculties, preserves them 
all in harmonious balance, develops all in symmetrical propor- 
tion, and by freeing them from the warping power of prejudice, 
the blinding power of passion, and the debasing slavery of evil 



43§ 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



habits, give's them all wholesome exercise, trains them all to 
keep step to the music of duty, and inspires them with an 
energy which is both intense and rightly directed. 

It was thus that he gave to the world an illustration of the 
power which results from the union of the loftiest human 
attributes and unfaltering faith in God. 

To attempt, therefore, to portray the life of Jackson while- 
leaving out the religious element, would be like undertaking 
"to describe Switzerland without making mention of the Alps," 
or to explain the fertility of the land of the Pharaohs without 
taking into account the enriching Nile. 

If what comes from the speaker to-day on this subject loses- 
aught of its force because it is regarded as professional, he will 
deeply regret it. The same testimony might have more weight 
from the lips of many a statesman or soldier on these grounds 
to-day, but it would not be a whit more true. Sturdy old 
Thomas Carlyle, at all events, was not speaking professionally 
when he said : "A man's religion is the chief fact with regard to- 
him." "The thing a man does practically lay to heart concern- 
ing his vital relation to this mysterious universe, and his duty 
and destiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing for 
him, and determines all the rest." 

It was surely the primary fact, the supreme fact in the history 
of General Jackson, and I cannot leave the subject without add- 
ing that those who confound his faith in Providence .with fatal- 
ism, mistake both the spiritual history of the man and the mean- 
ing of the very words they employ. 

Those who imagine that his faith savored of bigotry do not 
know that one characteristic of his religion was its generous 
catholicity, as might well be inferred from the fact that the first 
spiritual guides whose instructions he sought were members of 
communions widely different in doctrine and polity ; that when 
he connected himself with the church of his choice, it was with 
doubts of the truth of some of its articles of doctrine — doubts - 
ultimately and utterly removed, indeed, but openly avowed 
while they possessed him; that nothing so rejoiced his heart: 
during the progress of the war as the harmony existing between, 
the various denominations represented in the army; that in 
selecting his personal staff, and in recommending men for pro- 
motion, merit was the sole ground, and their ecclesiastical rela- 
tions were never even considered; that with a charity which 
embraced all who held the cardinal truths of revelation, he 
ardently desired such a unity of feeling and concert o£ actions 



Appendix. 



439 



among all the followers of the same Divine Leader as would 
constitute one spiritual army glorious and invincible. 

It is refreshing, too, to note, that at this day, when political 
economists abandon the weaker races to the law of natural 
selection, and contemplate with complacency the process by 
which the dominant races extirpate the less capable, he sought 
to place the gentle but strong and sustaining hand of Christi- 
anity beneath the African population of the South, and so arrest 
the operation of that law by developing them, if possible, into a 
self-sustaining people. 

It is still more refreshing to note, that at this day, when scien- 
tific men assert such an unvarying uniformity in the operations 
of the laws of nature as to discredit prophecy, and deny miracle 
and silence prayer, that he whose studies had lain almost exclu- 
sively in the realm of the exact sciences was a firm believer in 
the supernatural. Well did this humble pupil in the school of 
the Great Teacher — this diligent student in the school of phy- 
sical science — know that true progress was not mere advance 
in inventions and in arts, or in subsidizing the forces of nature 
to human uses, but that true progress was the progress of man 
himself — man, as distinct from anything external to himself. 
Well did he know that there is a celestial as well as a terrestrial 
side to man's nature, and that although the temple of the body 
has its foundation in the dust, it is a temple covered by a dome 
which opens upward to the air and the sunlight of heaven, 
through which the Creator discloses himself as the goal of the 
soul's aspirations, as the ultimate and imperishable good which 
satisfies its infinite desires. Those were true and brave words 
of the British Premier when he said, "Society has a soul as well 
as a body ; the traditions of a nation are a part of its existence ; 
its valor and its discipline, its religious faith, its venerable laws, 
its science and its erudition, its poetry, its art, its eloquence and 
its scholarship, are as much a portion of its existence as its 
agriculture, its commerce, and its engineering skill." 

The death of every soldier who fell in our Confederate war 
is a protest against that base philosophy "which would make 
physical good man's highest good, and which would attempt 
to rear a noble commonwealth on mere material foundations." 
Every soldier who offers his life to his country demonstrates 
the superiority of the moral to the physical, and proclaims that 
truth, and right, and honor, and liberty are nobler than animal 
existence, and worth the sacrifice even when blood is the offer- 
ing. 



44Q 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



And now we recognize the Providence of God in giving to 
this faithful servant the illustrious name and fame as a leader 
of armies, which brought the very highest development of his 
character to the notice of the world. It was his renown as a 
soldier of the country which made him known to men as a sol- 
dier of the Cross. And since nothing so captivates the popular 
heart or so kindles its enthusiasm as military glory, Providence 
has made even that subservient to a higher purpose. Men can- 
not now think of Jackson without associating the prowess of 
the soldier with the piety of the man. Thus his great military 
renown is the golden candlestick holding high the celestial 
light which is seen from afar and cannot be hid. 

Such was the man who was second in command in our Con- 
federate armies, and whose success as a leader during the 
bright, brief career allotted to him was second to that of no one 
of his illustrious comrades-in-arms. 

And yet the cause to which all this valor was consecrated, 
and for which all these sacrifices were made, was not destined to 
triumph. And here, perhaps, we learn one of the most salutary 
lessons of this wonderful history. 

Doubtless all men who have ever given their labors and affec- 
tion to any cause fervently hope to be the witnesses of its 
assured triumph. Nor do I deny that success makes the pulses 
of enterprise beat faster and fuller. Like the touch of the god- 
dess, it transforms the still marble into breathing life. But yet 
all history, sacred and profane, is filled with illustrations of the 
truth, that success, and especially contemporary success, is not 
the test of merit. Our own observation in the world in" which 
we move proves the same truth. Has not popular applause 
ascended like incense before tyrants who surrendered their lives 
to the basest and most degrading passions ? Have not reproach 
and persecution, and poverty and defeat, been the companions 
of noble men in all ages, who have given their toil and blood 
to great causes? Are they less noble because they were the 
victims of arbitrary power, or because an untoward generation 
would not appreciate the grand problems which they solved, or 
because they lived in a generation which was not worthy of 
them? 

If we now call the roll of the worthies who have given to 
the world its valued treasures of thought or faith, or who have 
subdued nature or developed art, it will be found that nearly all 
of them were in a life-long grapple with defeat and disaster. 
Some, and amongst them those whose names shine the bright- 



Appendix. 



441 



nest, would have welcomed neglect as a boon, but instead en- 
dured shame and martyrdom. 

Other things being equal, the tribute of our admiration is 
more due to him who, in spite of disaster, pursues the cause 
which he has espoused, than to one who requires the stimulus 
of the applause of an admiring public. We are sure of a 
worthy object when we give our plaudits to the earnest soul 
who has followed his convictions in the midst of peril and dis- 
aster because of his faith in them. 

It is well that even every honest effort in the cause of right 
and truth is not always crowned with success. Defeat is the 
discipline which trains the truly heroic soul to further and 
better endeavors. And if these last should fail, and he can do 
battle no more, he can lay down his armor with the assurance 
that others will put it on, and in God's good time vindicate the 
truth in whose behalf he had not vainly spent his life. 

Our people, since the termination of the war, have illustrated 
the lessons learned in the school of adversity. Having vindi- 
cated their valor and endurance during the conflict, they have 
since exhibited their patience and self-control under the most 
trying circumstances. Their dignity in the midst of poverty 
and reverses, their heroic resignation to what they could not 
avert, have shown that subjugation itself could not conquer 
true greatness of soul. And by none have these virtues been 
illustrated more impressively than by the veterans of the long 
conflict, who laid down their arms at its close and mingled 
again with their fellow-citizens, distinguished from the rest 
only by their superior reverence for law, their patient indus- 
try, their avoidance of all that might cause needless irritation 
and provoke new humiliations, and their readiness to regard 
as friends in peace those whom they had so recently resisted 
as enemies in war. 

The tree is known by its fruits. Your Excellency has re- 
minded us that our civilization should be judged by the charac- 
ter of the men it has produced. If our recent revolution had 
been irradiated by the lustre of but the two names — Lee and 
Jackson — it would still have illumined one of the brightest 
pages in history. 

I have not spoken of the former to-day; not because my 
heart was not full of him, but because the occasion required 
me to speak of another, and because the day is not distant when 
one more competent to do justice to this great theme than I 
have been to mine will address another assembly of the men 



442 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



of the South, and North, and West, upon these Capitol- 
grounds, when our new Pantheon will be completed by the 
erection of another monument, and the inauguration of the 
statue of Lee, with his generals around him, amid the tears- 
and gratulations of a countless multitude. 

It was with matchless magnanimity that these two great 
chieftains delighted each to contribute to the glory of the- 
other. Let us not dishonor ourselves by robbing either of one 
leaf in the chaplet which adorns their brows ; but, catching the 
inspiration of their lofty example, let us thank God that he 
gave us two such names to shine as binary stars in the firma- 
ment above us. 

It was in the noontide of Jackson's glory that he fell; but 
what a pall of darkness suddenly shrouded all the land in that 
hour ! If any illustration were needed of the hold he had ac- 
quired on the hearts of our people, on the hearts of the good. 
and brave and true throughout all the civilized world, it would 
be found in the universal lament which went up everywhere 
when it was announced that Jackson was dead — from the little 
girl at the Chandler House, who "wished that God would let 
her die in his stead, because then only her mother would cry;: 
but if Jackson died, all the people of the country would cry" — 
from this humble child up to the Commander-in-chief, who 
wept as only the strong and brave can weep at the tidings of 
his fall; from the weather-beaten sea-captain, who had never 
seen his face, but who burst into loud uncontrollable grief,, 
standing on the deck of his vessel, with his rugged sailors 
around him wondering what had happened to break that heart 
of oak, up to the English earl, honored on both sides of the- 
Atlantic, who exclaimed, when the sad news came to him, 
"Jackson was in some respects the greatest man America ever' 
produced." 

The impressive ceremonies of the hour will bring back to* 
some here present the memories of that day of sorrow, when, 
at the firing of a gun at the base of yonder monument, a pro- 
cession began to move to the solemn strains of the Dead March i 
in Saul — the hearse on which the dead hero lay preceded by a 
portion of the command of General Pickett, whose funeral 
obsequies you have just celebrated, and followed by a mighty 
throng of weeping citizens, until, having made a detour of the 
city, it paused at the door of the Capitol, when the body was 
borne within by reverent hands and laid on an altar erectedl 
beneath the dome. 



Appendix. 



443- 



The Congress of the Confederate States had adopted a de- 
vice for their flag, and one emblazoned with it had just been 
completed, which was intended to be unfurled from the roof 
of the Capitol. It never fluttered from the height it was 
intended to grace. It became Jackson's winding-sheet. Oh ! 
mournful prophecy of the fate of the Confederacy itself ! 

The military authorities shrouded him in the white, red, and 
blue flag of the Confederacy. The citizens decked his bier 
with the white, red, and blue flowers of spring until they rose 
high above it a soft floral pyramid ; but the people everywhere 
embalmed him in their hearts with a love sweeter than all the 
fragrance of spring, and immortal as the verdure of the trees 
under which he now rests by the river of life. 

And where, in all the annals of the world's sorrow for de- 
parted worth, was there such a pathetic impersonation of a 
nation's grief as was embodied in the old mutilated veteran of 
Jackson's division, who, as the shades of evening fell, and 
when the hour for the closing of the doors of the Capitol came,, 
and when the lingering throng was warned to retire, was seen 
anxiously pressing through the crowd to take his last look at 
the face of his beloved leader. "They told him he was too 
late ; that they were closing up the coffin for the last time ; that 
the order had been given to clear the hall. He still struggled 
forward, refusing to take a denial, until one of the marshals of 
the day was about to exercise his authority to force him back ; 
upon this the old soldier lifted the stump of his right arm to- 
ward the heavens, and with tears running down his bearded 
face, exclaimed, 'By this arm, which I lost for my country, I 
demand the privilege of seeing my general once more !' Such 
an appeal was irresistible, and, at the instance of the Governor 
of the Commonwealth, the pomp was arrested until this humble 
comrade had also dropped his tear upon the face of his dead 
leader." 

Your Excellency did well to make the path broad which leads 
through these Capitol grounds to this statue, for it will be 
trodden by the feet of all who visit this city, whether they come 
from the banks of the Hudson, the Mississippi, or the Sacra- 
mento; whether from the Tiber, the Rhine, or the Danube. 

Tender though they be, cold and sad are the closing lines of 
Collins in his ode to the memory of the brave whose rest is 
hallowed by their country's benedictions, depicting as they do r 
Honor coming as "a pilgrim gray," and Freedom as a "weeping 
hermit" repairing to the graves of departed heroes. 



•444 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Not so will Honor come to this shrine; not as a worn and 
weary pilgrim, but as a generous youth with burnished shield 
and stainless sword, and heart beating high in sympathy for 
the right and true, to lay his mail-clad hand on this altar and 
swear eternal fealty to duty and to God. 

Nor will Freedom for a time only repair to this hallowed 
spot, but here she will linger long and hopefully, not as a 
weeping hermit, but as a radiant divinity conscious of immor- 
tality. 

It is true that memories unutterably sad have at times swept 
through this mighty throng to-day, but we are not here to in- 
dulge in reminiscences only, much less in vain regrets. We 
have a future to face, and in that future lies not only duty, and 
trials perhaps, but also hope. 

For when we ask what has become of the principles in the 
defence of which Jackson imperilled and lost his life, then I 
answer: A form of government may change, a policy may 
-perish, but a principle can never die. Circumstances may so 
change as to make the application of the principle no longer 
-possible, but its innate vitality is not affected thereby. The 
conditions of society may be so altered as to make it idle to 
contend for a principle which no longer has any practical force, 
"but these changed conditions of society have not annihilated 
-one original truth. 

The application of these postulates to the present situation 
of our country is obvious. The people of the South main- 
tained, as their fathers maintained before them, that certain 
principles were essential to the perpetuation of the Union ac- 
cording to its original constitution. Rather than surrender 
their conviction they took up arms to defend them. The appeal 
was vain. Defeat came, and they accepted it, with its conse- 
quences, just as they would have accepted victory with its 
fruits. They have sworn to maintain the government as it is 
now constituted. They will not attempt again to assert their 
views of State sovereignty by an appeal to the sword. None 
feel this obligation to be more binding than the soldiers of the 
late Confederate armies. A soldier's parole is a sacred thing, 
and the men who are willing to die for a principle in time of 
war are the men of all others most likely to maintain their 
personal honor in time of peace. 

But it is idle to shut our eyes to the fact that this consoli- 
dated empire of States is not the Union established by our 
fathers. No intelligent European student of American insti- 



Appendix. 



445 



tutions is deceived by any such assumption. We gain nothing 
by deceiving ourselves. 

And if history teaches any lesson, it is this, that a nation 
cannot long survive when the fundamental principles which 
gave it life originally are subverted. It is true republics have 
often degenerated into despotism. It is also true that after 
such transformation they have for a time been characterized 
by a force, a prosperity, and a glory never known in their 
earlier annals, but it has always been a force which absorbed 
and obliterated the rights of the citizen, a prosperity which 
was gained by the sacrifice of individual independence, a glory 
which was ever the precursor of inevitable anarchy, disin- 
tegration, and ultimate extinction. 

If then it be asked how are we to escape the catastrophe, I 
answer by a voluntary return to the fundamental principles 
upon which our republic was originally founded. And if it be 
objected that we have already entered upon one of those politi- 
cal revolutions which never go backward, then I ask, who gave 
to any one the authority to say so ? or whence comes the infalli- 
bility which entitles any one to pronounce a judgment so over- 
whelming? Why may there not be a comprehension of what 
is truly politic, and what is grandly right, slumbering in the 
hearts of our American people — a people at once so practical 
and emotional, so capable of great enterprise and greater mag- 
nanimity — a patriotism which is yet to awake and announce 
itself in a repudiation of all unconstitutional invasion of the 
liberties of the citizens of any portion of this broad Union? 
When we remember the awful strain to which the principles 
of other constitutional governments have been subjected in 
the excitement of revolutionary epochs, and how, when seem- 
ingly submerged by the tempest, they have risen again and 
reasserted themselves in their original integrity, why should 
we despair of seeing the ark of our liberties again resting on 
the summit of the mount, and hallowed by the benediction of 
Him who said, "Behold, I do set my bow in the cloud ?" 

And now standing before this statue, and, as in the living 
presence of the man it represents, cordially endorsing, as I do, 
the principles of the political school in which he was trained 
and in defence of which he died, and unable yet even to think 
of our dead Confederacy without memories unutterably ten- 
der, I speak not for myself, but for the South, when I say it 
is our interest, our duty and determination, to maintain the 
Union, and to make every possible contribution to its pros- 



446 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



perity and glory, if all the States which compose it will unite 
in making it such a Union as our fathers framed, and in en- 
throning above it, not a Caesar, but the Constitution in its old 
supremacy. 

If ever these States are welded together in one great fra- 
ternal, enduring Union, with one heart pulsating through the 
entire frame as the tides throb through the bosom of the sea, 
it will be when they all stand on the same level, with such a 
jealous regard for each other's rights that when the interests 
or honor of one is assailed, all the rest, feeling the wound, even 
as the body feels the pain inflicted on one of its members, will 
kindle with just resentment at the outrage, because an injury 
done to a part is not only a wrong, but an indignity offered to 
the whole. But if that cannot be, then I trust the day will 
never dawn when the Southern people will add degradation to 
defeat, and hypocrisy to subjugation, by professing a love for 
the Union which denies to one of their States a single right 
accorded to Massachusetts or New York — to such a Union we 
will never be heartily loyal while that bronze hand grasps its 
sword — while yonder river chants the requiem of the sixteen 
thousand Confederate dead who, with Stuart among them, 
sleep on the hills of Hollywood. 

But I will not end my oration with an anticipation so dis- 
heartening. I cannot so end it because I look forward to the 
future with more of hope than of despondency. I believe in 
the perpetuity of republican institutions, so far as any work of 
man may be said to possess that attribute. The complete 
emancipation of our constitutional liberty must come from 
other quarters, but we have our part to perform, one requiring 
patience, prudence, fortitude, faith. 

A cloud of witnesses encompass us. The bronze figures on 
these monuments seem for the moment to be replaced by the 
spirits of the immortal men whose names they bear. 

As if an angel spoke their tones thrill our hearts. 

First, it is the calm voice of Washington that we hear: "Of 
all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosper- 
ity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should 
labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." 

Then, Henry's clarion notes arouse us : "Liberty, the great- 
est of all earthly blessings : give us that precious jewel, and you 
may take all the rest !" 



Appendix. 



447 



Then Jefferson speaks: "Fellow-citizens, it is proper you 
should understand what I deem the essential principles of gov- 
ernment. Equal and exact justice to all men of whatsoever 
state or persuasion, religious or political. The support of 
State governments in all their rights, as the surest bulwarks 
against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the 
general government in its whole constitutional vigor as the 
sheet-anchor of our peace at home and salfety abroad; the su- 
premacy of the civil over military authority; the honest pay- 
ment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith. 
And should we wander from these principles in moments of 
error and alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to 
regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty and safety." 

And last it is Jackson's clear, ringing tone to which we 
listen: "What is life without honor? Degradation is worse 
than death. We must think of the living and of those who are 
to come after us, and see that by God's blessing we transmit 
to them the freedom we have enjoyed." 

Heaven, hear the prayer of our dead, immortal hero ! 



II. 



ADDRESS 

At the Mass-meeting in the Capitol Square, Richmond, Va., after 
the Assassination of President Garfield, fuly 5, 1881. 

I was not aware until this afternoon that this meeting was to 
be held. I see great significance in such an assemblage. It 
shows that you, the people of Richmond, wish to speak for 
yourselves — not by proxy, but individually, to give expression 
to the feeling which now fills every mind and heart. My hon- 
ored friend, the Governor of this commonwealth, has already 
in a brief, comprehensive telegram communicated to the Presi- 
dent the feelings of the people of Virginia — detestation of the 
crime which has caused sorrow, and sympathy for the sorrow 
itself; and on last Sunday there was another significant indi- 
cation of the feeling of our people. No pastor in this city knew 
what was in the mind and heart of any other pastor. It may be 
that each one thought he was alone in giving expression to the 
emotion which he knew to be swelling in the bosoms of the 
people of his charge ; and yet every one gave utterance to that 
emotion, and either in his sermon or his prayers remembered 
the sufferer, and besought God's gracious help and consolation 
in his behalf. 

And yet, my friends, though the Governor of the common- 
wealth had spoken for you, though reverend men of God had 
interpreted your emotions in all your solemn assemblies, this 
would not suffice ; and you are here yourselves to-night, though 
hastily summoned, to speak directly for yourselves, and thus 
give relief to the pent-up feeling which demands the fullest 
expression which a people, at once indignant and sorrowing,, 
can give. 

Ah, yes, sadly do I remember the memorable day to which 
his honor Mayor Keiley has referred, when we met in this very 
place to commemorate what was called "the Capitol disaster." 
That was a day of gloom and anguish — a day of tears, of bleed- 
ing, broken hearts. But that calamity affected a community 



Appendix. 



449 



only. The one which absorbs us to-night touches the heart of 
the world. 

In my frequent visits to Europe, on my return voyage I 
naturally make comparisons between my own country and those 
I have just been studying. At each return I am filled with new 
admiration for the land of my nativity and love. These heavens 
do not bend over any land so favored by natural advantages, 
so enriched by material resources as ours. These quiet stars do 
not look down upon any continent with such possibilities as 
ours. And yet, with all my fond hopes and glowing anticipa- 
tions of the splendid future in store for us, I am invariably 
depressed with one apprehension: that all these physical ad- 
vantages, all these prospects of prosperity and glory may be 
illusive, because of the failure of the experiment of self- 
government, because republican institutions may be unable to 
bear the strain to which they are subjected by the fanaticism 
of factions, unrestrained by constitutional limits, and utterly 
contemptuous of the authority of law. 

Parties may be essential to the healthful life of republican 
institutions, but blind, unreasoning factions, incapable of reason, 
animated only by prejudice and hate, these are the foes so full 
of menace to constitutional liberty which now confront us. 

Insanity is an awful visitation, even when it maddens a single 
mind ; but whole communities sometimes become insane. Fa- 
naticisms have often become national epidemics, and when 
faction, at once malignant and insane, begins to work in the 
body politic, it is like one of the hateful maladies which some- 
times infest the physical frame — it fevers and pollutes the 
whole structure until it at last breaks out in some incurable 
ulcer, premonitory of death. 

Such is faction, whose motto never is "Principles not Men," 
nor "Principles and Men," but "Men without Principles ;" 
loyal not to law or duty, but to money, to place, to ambition, to 
power. That was a noble sentiment of Edmund Burke when 
he declared that all just political principles were the principles 
of morality practically applied. Do not our hearts go with him 
when we hear him say, "Neither do I now, nor will I ever, ad- 
mit anything else to be true?" 

Behold that beautiful constellation of Ursa Major as it rolls 
unceasingly and unchanged in position around the polar star, 
to which it points us forever. So should our thoughts and 
aspirations be directed ever to the polar star of principle, and 



450 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



never for a moment be diverted from their true course, to follow 
after the false and vicious teachings of fanaticism and faction, 
which, like yonder baleful comet, spring from one knows not 
where, nor for what evil purpose, and disappear one knows 
not whither. 

Fellow-citizens, I would impress this truth upon you, "That 
which is morally wrong can never be politically right." 

A Guiteau may say, "I slay a President to secure the unity 
of a party." A united party is necessary to factional triumph ; 
but Guiteau had a predecessor. Milton, in his picture of Satan, 
tells us of a speech he made, and adds — 

" So spake the fiend, and with necessity, 
The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds." 

Fellow-citizens, the great calamity which now hushes party 
clamor and rebukes sectional animosity, and which, by the fu- 
sion of a common sorrow, welds us together, reminds us of the 
way in which God, in his providence, compels us to recognize 
the dependence of man upon man, state upon state, and nation 
upon nation. 

When a war breaks out between two great kingdoms, sepa- 
rated from us by the ocean, we may seem to have no interest in 
it ; we may think so, but soon we are. convinced of our mistake. 
It affects us, involves us, quite independent of our wishes. 
Commerce is interrupted, trade ceases, provisions become scarce 
and dear, and a poor widow on the banks of the Clyde, the 
Seine, the Mississippi, the James, or the Sacramento, loses her 
annuity, and presently suffers, because of a war waged on the 
other side of the sea. 

Or a pestilential fever smites the cities of our Southern 
States, and from Canada, from New England, from the great 
States of the Northwest, contributions come, and nurses and 
medicines and provisions, and a thousand tender expressions of 
sympathy. 

Or a famine, like one which has so often desolated Ireland, 
smites that land, and all Christendom becomes responsive to 
Ireland's sorrow, and even the pagan and Mohammedan world 
unite in the sacred ministry of relief to the suffering. Thus 
God makes the very wounds of humanity the fountains from 
which issue the tenderest sympathies and the sweetest charities, 
which bring comfort to the suffering and which make the whole 
world akin in the consciousness of common interest and inter- 
dependence. 



Appendix. 



45i 



Most impressively has this lesson been taught us by the sor- 
row which brings us here to-night. Our President has been 
assailed by a murderous assassin. North, South, East, and 
West are blended and fused by one common sorrow ; magnetic 
wires through all seas convey messages of condolence and sym- 
pathy ; Japan and China unite with European states ; paganism 
and Mohammedanism are conjoined with Christendom in the 
expression of a united hope that the bereavement we apprehend 
may be averted, and that our President may be spared to us. 

But the cloud still pends. The crisis is not yet over. Let us 
make that cloud a pavilion for prayer. Let us fringe its lurid 
•edges with sympathy, with hope, and with rekindled fires of pa- 
triotism, shining all the brighter because relumed at the altar 
..of our common country. 



III. 



FAMILY RELIGION. 

An Address before the Evangelical Alliance, in Copenhagen. 

I suppose it has seldom happened that one has been required 
to deliver an address in circumstances like these. 

When I entered this place to-night, I did not know what sub- 
ject was under discussion; and when my honored friend, Dr. 
SchafT, from New York, urged me to follow the reverend' 
brother who has just concluded, I felt that it would be pre- 
sumptuous to address this august assembly without premedi- 
tation or time even for arranging the line of thought appropri- 
ate to the theme under discussion ; but I do not obtrude myself 
upon the audience, and I shall have your sympathy in obedience 
to the sudden call which has been made on me, as I attempt to 
give expression to such thoughts as the occasion suggests. 

And now, fathers and brethren, as I stand here, I would not 
know how to begin, but for the happy remembrance of the 
sermon which I heard yesterday morning in the English church. 

The Rev. Mr. Anderson, of Bath, in a discourse characterized 
by great fervor and unction, remarked that we were educated 
not so much by the books we studied as by the people with whom 
we have intercourse ; that while much important technical in- 
formation was derived from books, the potent influences which 
shaped our characters and guided our lives came from the 
opinions of the men with whom we held familiar intercourse, 
and from the example of those with whom we were in constant 
association. This is a great and solemn truth. We are all 
sculptors, not like your great Thorwaldsen in shaping blocks 
of marble into forms of beauty, but in moulding the characters- 
of those with whom we come in contact into those forms which 
they will wear through this life, and possibly wear forever; but 
if such is the power of the influences which fashion us in our 
intercourse with society at large, how much more powerful must 
the influences be which are daily and hourly exerted in the nar- 
row circle of home ; how much more complete the education of 
both mind and heart which comes from the precepts and ex- 



Appendix. 



453 



amples of parents in their intimate association with their 
children, who in the most impressible years of life are looking 
to these their natural teachers and guides for counsel and direc- 
tion. 

Religion is a power in the world wherever exhibited, but how 
much more in the household where its daily lessons may be 
taught under circumstances the most favorable for making the 
deepest and most enduring impression. I was but seven years 
old when my father died, and when the funeral services were 
over, and when the strange, sad silence filled the house which is 
so impressive after the burial of one beloved, and when the even- 
ing of the mournful day drew on, our mother gathered us, her 
little children, in her chamber, and told us that she meant here- 
after to take our father's place, as God might help her, as the 
head of the household, and she would commence that night by 
conducting family prayers. 

Were I to live beyond the age of the venerable president of 
this alliance 1 I could not forget that scene ; could not forget 
the manner in which she read God's word, or the low and 
tremulous tones of the prayer in which she besought strength 
and comfort, and commended her children to the care and love 
of the covenant-keeping God. None of you, my English 
friends of this audience, are unacquainted with the tender lines 
of one of your own favorite poets, "written on the receipt of 
his mother's picture," commencing — 

" O that those lips had language ! Life has pass'd 
With me but roughly since I saw thee last." 

Nor have you forgotten the stanza in which he gratefully em- 
balms the memory of those to whom he owed a debt never to be 
paid — 

" My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned or rulers of the earth, 
But higher far my proud intentions rise, 
The child of parents passed into the skies."' 

And as one quotation suggests another, you, my friends from 
another land, will allow me to remind you of a hallowed scene 
depicted by one of the greatest bards, not only of Scotland, but 
of the world — the picture of "The Cotter's Saturday Night/' 
when the family, gathered for evening worship, formed a circle 
round the fireside, and when the old patriarch, having read a 
portion from "the big ha' Bible," and all together having sung a 

1 Dr. Kalkar. 



454 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Psalm, borne upward by "Dundee's Wild Warbling Notes," or 
"Plaintive Martyrs," or "Noble Elgin"— 

" Then kneeling down to heaven's Eternal King, 
The saint, the husband and the father prays ; 

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, 
That thus they all shall meet in future days ; 

No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear, 
Together hymning their Creator's praise, 

In such society, yet still more dear, 

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere." 

There is a picture of family worship whose outlines will never 
grow dim, and whose colors will not fade. 

Well was it said, "From scenes like these old Scotia's gran- 
deur springs," and as long as piety in the household continues- 
to be the characteristic of the life of the people of any land, it 
will never be without the patriot soldier to defend its rights, 
or the patriot bard to sing its glories. Then let family worship 
open the gates of the morning with praise, and close the portals 
of the day with peace ; let the children grow up under the hal- 
lowing influences of household piety, and these salutary im- 
pressions will never be effaced. They will sink down in the 
heart of the child as the dew sinks down in the heart of the 
flower, giving refreshment and gathering sweetness. The good 
seed, falling on the tender heart, softened by grace, will not 
perish, but will spring up to bear precious fruits in this life, 
and perchance to flourish beautiful and immortal in the paradise 
of God. 

One of the most memorable voyages ever made was when the 
apostle, "having loosed from Troas, came with a straight course 
to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis, and thence to 
Philippi," where he preached the first gospel sermon ever heard 
in Europe, in the place of prayer by the riverside. The first 
convert was a woman and a mother, who was baptized with her 
household. The "man of Macedonia" who cried, "Come over 
and help us," did not inform Paul how the help was to be ad- 
ministered, or in what particular form it would immediately 
come; but we know that Europe was first helped by the con- 
version of a woman, and that woman a mother ! This is a lesson 
for all the ages. 

If there is to be but one pious person in the family, let that 
one be the mother. She has the earliest and best opportunity 
with the child — the father's influence comes afterwards. The 



Appendix. 



455 



mother's teaching is remembered longest, and often is the last 
upon which the blessing of God rests. Were I now to make the 
appeal, would not hundreds of men rise up in this great assem- 
bly, gathered from all lands, and testify, if required, that, under 
God, they owed their conversion to a mother's tender importu- 
nity, or to the silent power of her example, and the ever-present 
influence o>f her sweet and saintly life? It may be that she no 
longer lives on earth, but when I pronounce the word mother, 
it matters not in what language, to some of you it is like a voice 
from heaven — it is as if an angel spoke — and you hear it with 
the listening ear of the heart. And never can you forget the 
hours of childhood, when each night before retiring to rest she 
made you kneel down at her feet, and taking your little hand in 
hers, or laying her soft hand upon your head — you can feel its 
gentle pressure now — she taught you to say, "Our Father which 
art in heaven," or that other prayer, so familiar to all English- 
speaking people, commencing, "Now I lay me down to sleep" — 
a good prayer for a child, for a man, for a patriarch. 

The apostle sent his salutation to the "church in the house." 
So long as there are true, apostolic, evangelic churches in house- 
holds, there will be the same kind of churches in kingdoms, in 
republics, in all the world. Should the church in the house 
exist no more, then the church in the city, in the state, in the 
world will become extinct ; but this will never be while Chris- 
tian life is cherished and perpetuated in the family. 

God bless every good mother in Denmark, and every pious 
household represented here to-night in this great gathering of 
his people from so many nations of the earth. 



IV. 



THE PRIVATE SOLDIER. 

An Address before tlie Mass-meeting held in the interest of the 
Monument on Libby Hill, Richmond, Va., Nov. 30, 1892. 

It is said that on each of the four sides of the monument to 
the memory of the Confederate dead in New Orleans is carved 
a calm and noble face. One is that of Albert Sidney Johnston, 
another is that of the warrior bishop, General Polk, a third is 
that of Stonewall Jackson, and the fourth is that of Robert E. 
Lee ; but on the top of the monumental shaft, looking down on 
the heroic group below, is the figure, the typical figure, of the 
Confederate private soldier — type of the men worthy to follow 
such leaders as those whose faces are sculptured on the column, 
and without whose following even these great leaders would 
not have won the positions they occupy on the shaft and on the 
pages of immortal history. It is to the memory of such men 
that I come to-night, in obedience to your call, to pay this 
tribute. 

In doing so I am only giving expression to your emotions. I 
recognize the fact that the greeting you have just given me is 
because I am the channel through which your own best feelings 
are flowing. I am but a voice; the spirit which animates it 
comes from this splendid audience, and you honor me in making 
me the medium of your own generous, grateful and loving 
tribute to the memory of the Confederate dead. 

It is well that we give this expression of our regard for them 
— for what did they give us? What did they not give us? 
What was there dear in the homes they left behind, never to be 
revisited again ; what was there precious in the ties of affection, 
sundered never to be renewed on earth again, which they did 
not sacrifice for us ? What was there of privation or peril in the 
camp, on the march, on the bloody front of battle, or in the hos- 
pital where they languished when the battle was over, which 
they did not endure for us? 

We can never pay the debt we owe them, but we can cherish 



Appendix. 



457 



the recollection of all that made them worthy of our love ; we 
can treasure their names and embalm their memories, 

— "with all our hearts can give, 
Our praises and our tears." 

The privates, who at the first tap of the drum sprang to arms 
when the conflict commenced, were not professional soldiers ; 
they did not go to the field seeking the "bubble reputation" or 
the glory which is won by feats of valor; but they were men 
who came from the sanctities of home, from the peaceful avoca- 
tions of business or professional life ; many of them merchants 
or mechanics ; most of them farmers ; some of them students 
in schools, colleges, and theological seminaries ; yet all of them, 
every man of them, every boy of them, at the sacred call of duty, 
perilled all, and for principle sacrificed all, committing their 
souls to God and their memories to us who might survive them. 

And we will be faithful to the trust. I stand here to-night, in 
the name of this gallant regiment, in the name of this responsive 
audience, in the name of this historic city, in the name of this 
venerable commonwealth, in the name of the fair women and 
"brave men of this whole Southland, to declare by all that is 
sacred in the obligation we owe to the memories of the men who 
laid down their lives for us, we will be faithful to the trust. 
We do not permit even time, which buries so much in oblivion, 
to diminish our sense of obligation, or our appreciation of what 
they were and of what they suffered. As at the battle of the 
First Manassas General Jackson declined to have the sentinels 
posted, saying, "Let the weary fellows sleep, I will guard the 
camp," so we who survive mean to stand guard over the honor 
and fame, not of the Confederate living — for they can protect 
themselves — but over the honor and fame of those who sleep 
their last sleep on the field of duty and glory. So will we keep 
their memories fresh and green where they can be best perpetu- 
ated; not by flowers strewn on their graves, for these soon 
wither and are scattered like leaves in wintry weather, but by 
the flowers of loving remembrance which grow in our hearts, 
and which are watered only by tears. These are immortal, and 
bloom in beauty and fragrance forever. And there is yet some- 
thing more that we may do — we can give some visible expres- 
sion of the sentiments we cherish in our hearts. 

When two hundred feet above the summit of Libby Hill, on 
the top of the towering monumental shaft we are going to 
erect there, the noble image of the private Confederate soldier 



458 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



shall be seen standing as if surveying the ramparts of Drewry's* 
Bluff and the battlefields of the Chickahominy, we shall have 
that visible expression in granite and in bronze which all men 
may see and understand. 

The question has been asked — I would not repeat it were it 
not so often asked — why erect such monuments at all? The 
Confederacy is dead and can never be revived. Why keep alive 
memories that had better be buried in oblivion ? Why perpetu- 
ate the memory of a lost cause? Why, indeed? I respond. If 
that were the object in erecting such monuments — if that were 
the result of rearing them — then I, for one, would never lift a 
finger or utter a word in favor of such memorials; but I most 
emphatically deny that there is any such design or that there 
would be any such result. A soldier's monument in every city, 
town and village of the South would have no political or sec- 
tional significance now. The interests of the South now lie in 
the preservation of the Union. As it prospers so do we. To- 
stir up sectional strife would be a blunder on the part of the 
South. It would be suicidal. It would be equally so on the part 
of the North which fought four years to maintain the Union; 
and were it to encourage sectional strife, the tendency of which 
is to weaken and disrupt the Union, it would be to confess 
judgment, for it would contradict the logic of the war, and if* 
possible demonstrate its absurdity. 

No true patriot, no gallant soldier, is ever found fanning the 
flames of sectional animosity. Only demagogues do that ; only 
men who pander to the basest prejudices of the basest men in 
the mistaken hope that there are enough of such people to waft 
them into power on the wave of sectional passion. To foment 
sectional strife is not only to attack the unity of the States, it is- 
a crime against Christian civilization — against the God of peace- 
and the lover of concord. I gratefully recognize the fact that 
some of the truest friends of the South are to be found among 
Northern statesmen and among those who fought against us in 
the Northern army. You had a striking illustration of this,, 
when, at the unveiling of the Jackson statue on the Capitol 
Square, a noble senator of a Northern State was one of the first 
to lay a wreath on the pedestal of the monument. You hear it 
in the words of a gallant citizen of Massachusetts, when he 
said, "The time may yet be when the Northern as well as the 
Southern heart will throb reverently to the proud words upon 
the Confederate monument at Charleston, "These died for their 
State." 



Appendix. 



459 



What, then, is the use of erecting monuments to the Confed- 
erate dead? Of what use to us is the Lost Cause? It is lost — 
emphatically lost ; but does it follow that what is lost should be 
forgotten? We say truly, "Let the dead past bury its dead." 
Yes, let us bury all that is really dead in the past ; but there are 
some things in the past that cannot die, and we do not want to 
bury what is still living. The Confederacy is dead, but the 
memories of the men who died with and for it are not dead. 
Their valor, their endurance, their self-sacrifice, their sublime 
devotion to duty — these are not dead. 

The pathetic line of the old Roman poet comes back to us — 
a line worthy to be inscribed over the gateway of every ceme- 
tery where the Confederate dead lie buried — 

" Hi bene pro patria cum patriaque jacent." 

The men are dead, but not the examples of the men who with 
the courage of their holiest convictions maintained, at the risk 
of fortune and life, what they believed to be their constitutional 
rights, with the world in arms against them. The men are dead, 
but the patriotism that defied danger and held life not dear in 
the defence of honor, home and State sovereignty, and which 
kindled in their souls the quenchless fires of devotion to liberty, 
cannot be wrapped in a shroud, or screwed down under a 
coffin lid, or committed to the grave. 

The republics of ancient Greece are dead, but are Marathon 
and Salamis and Platsea to be forgotten because Greece is living 
Greece no more? On the contrary, have they not been the in- 
spiration of all that have resisted despotism and fought for 
freedom from their day to ours ? 

Twenty-five years before the Christian era the Roman re- 
public expired and was succeed by the Roman empire, but will 
the world forget the patriot sages and soldiers of Rome's noblest 
era? 

The Commonwealth of England has perished, but is not pa- 
triotism yet kindled by the names of John Hampden and John 
Milton and Harry Vane and Admiral Blake ? 

What does England now care for the wars of the White and 
Red Roses? She cares this : she cherishes the memories of the 
men who illustrated British valor, fortitude and pluck, but she 
has forgotten whether they belonged to the house of York or 
Lancaster. 

England and Scotland were once independent kingdoms. 



.460 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Long and bitter were the wars they waged against each other. 
They are united now, but suppose Scotland had never reared 
monuments in honor of her fallen chieftains. Suppose England 
'had been oblivious to the memories of her illustrious heroes. 
Suppose all the monuments of patriot soldiers had been reared 
on northern Scottish soil, and none across the southern border. 
Suppose all the monuments of ancient valor had been south of 
the Tweed — then what ? Then this : the impression would have 
slowly, certainly gained ground that either England or Scot- 
land had never produced men worthy of remembrance, and the 
result would have been the demoralization, the degradation of 
the parts of the United Kingdom which had failed to perpetuate 
the recollection of the men whose achievements constituted 
what ought to have been a common heritage, and what would 
have been the loss of each would have been the loss of both. 

The day will come when the question will not be who wore 
the blue or the gray, but who was loyal to duty, who was daunt- 
less in courage, who was unfaltering in adherence to principle, 
who was sublime in self-sacrifice, who illustrated most splen- 
didly the magnanimity, the daring, the chivalry of the patriot 
soldier ? 

No nation is safe or strong which does not glory in the 
achievements of noble ancestors. If sons fail to cherish the 
inspiring memories of patriotic fathers they will have no pa- 
triotism to bequeath to their descendants. Without self-respect, 
without self-reliance, without a belief in its own prowess and 
ability to stand against all comers, no nation is fit to take the 
field. One Englishman once thought himself a match for three 
Frenchmen. He often found himself mistaken, but the fact that 
he thought so helped him to be so. In our Confederate war the 
fact that with inferior numbers our troops so often obtained the 
victory was itself an inspiration and an assurance of success. 

But how shall a State become proud of its own record ? How 
can it obtain this confidence in its own valor, which is half 
the battle? I answer, by preserving the memories of the past. 
But how shall this be done? By history? How few read his- 
tory — how few have the time or the inclination. There is, how- 
ever, a splendid substitute for written history. It is pictorial 
history. It is object teaching. It is the appeal of monuments. 
Armies are recruited chiefly from the young and from the 
workingmen too busy to read. How appeal to them except by 
monuments? These speak to all — learned and unlearned, old 



Appendix. 



and young, professional men and men of business, the merchant,, 
the mechanic and the manufacturer. 

Books are occasionally opened, monuments are seen every 
day, and the lesson of that lofty figure which is to tower over 
Libby Hill and be seen from afar by all who approach this city 
by river or rail, will be a lesson in stone and in metal which your 
school boys can read and understand, and the lesson will be this : 
"Live nobly; there is a reward for patriotic devotion to duty; 
republics are not ungrateful." 

I am in favor of a monument to our great generals. We have 
a monument to Washington, to Jackson, to Stuart. We are 
going to have one for our Lee, but I want another for our Con- 
federate private soldier. Who more worthy of it than the 
privates who followed these great leaders and who so won their 
admiration that they could not find words adequate to ex- 
press it? 

When Jackson had to bid farewell to the Stonewall Brigade, 
as he rode slowly toward the line, the men, who at the sight of 
his old faded cap with the rim resting on his nose and his chin 
in the air, and the old gray coat and the old sorrel horse, were 
accustomed to shatter the air with their cheers, were as silent 
as death. They knew what was coming. In the midst of the 
profound sadness and silence, Jackson, controlling his emotions 
as best he could, commenced a formal address ; but presently 
he paused. He ran his eye down the line, as one of his biogra- 
phers says, as if he wanted individually to bid them farewell 
man by man, but as the memories of what they had suffered 
and achieved together came crowding on him, the suppressed 
emotion surged up beyond control. Mastered by an uncontrolla- 
ble impulse, he rose in his stirrups, threw the reins on the neck 
of his horse, with an electric gesture which sent a thrill through 
every heart, and, extending his arms, added in tones of deepest 
feeling, "In the Army of the Shenandoah you were the First 
brigade. In the Army of the Potomac you were the First bri- 
gade. In the Second Corps of the army you were the First 
brigade. You are the First brigade in the affections of your 
general, and I hope by your future deeds and bearing you will 
be handed down to posterity as the First brigade in this second 
war of independence." 

The private soldier! The men who were described by the 
English correspondent of the London Times as lean from fast- 
ing, with matted hair and mendicant's rags, yet who followed 



462 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the battle-flag with a triumphant joy never surpassed, and won 
victories never transcended ; the men of whom Lee said, "There 
is one attitude in which I could never be ashamed of your seeing 
my men, and that is when they are fighting." 

The private soldier! The men of whom a Northern officer 
wrote, "Their artillery train looks like a congregation of all the 
crippled California emigrant trains that ever escaped the Co- 
manche Indians. Their men are ill-dressed, ill equipped — a lot 
of ragamuffins that a man is ashamed to be seen among, even 
when he is a prisoner and can't help it ; and yet they have beaten 
us fairly — beaten us so easily that we are objects of contempt to 
their private soldiers, with no shirt showing through the holes 
of their pantaloons, and cartridge boxes tied round their waists 
with strands of rope." 

When at the battle of Cold Harbor Lee met Jackson and, lis- 
tening for a moment to the roar of the guns growing louder 
and louder, said to him, "General, that fire is very heavy. Do 
you think your men can stand it?" Jackson answered in brief 
tones, "They can stand almost anything. They can stand that." 

Yes, we will give them a monument. The scheme is in good 
hands. No better committee could be selected than the one to 
whom we have entrusted its management. No more ardent or 
efficient friend of this enterprise can be found than the honored 
Governor of this commonwealth, who is giving to it his fullest 
sympathy and his untiring cooperation. 

The place for the monument is a good one — the very best of 
all the historic hills of Richmond. We will make its foundation 
firm, its column high, and over the city defended four years by 
the bravest men who ever shouldered arms or charged bayonets 
we will set up the statue ; and as the sun rises over the Chesa- 
peake bay and darts his beams across the York river and the 
James, the first Object to catch its beams will be the burnished 
lielmet on the head of the private soldier, shining like the morn- 
ing star over the city of the living; and as the same sun sinks 
to its bed below Hollywood, the city of the dead, its light will 
still linger like a halo around the soldier's statue aloft in the 
air, to remind us that glory survives the grave, and that when 
the sun of life goes down its radiance will linger, with a soft 
celestial splendor, after all the rest of the world is wrapped in 
darkness. 



V. 



ADDRESS 

In the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va., December 
ii, 1889, the day appointed by the Governor for the Commemo- 
ration of the Death of the Hon. fefferson Davis. 

Somewhat wearied, as I am, with the number of special ser- 
vices which have devolved on me of late, it was my desire and 
effort to be relieved of the one now assigned to me; but the 
constraint laid on me to perform it was one I could not properly 
resist. I have probably been called to undertake this office be- 
cause I am one of the few pastors in this city who resided here 
during the civil war, and because circumstances brought me 
into personal association with the President of the conquered 
Confederacy. I heard his first address to the Richmond people 
from the balcony of Spotswood Hotel, after the removal of the 
capital from Montgomery. I stood beneath the ominous clouds, 
in the dismal rain of that memorable day, the 22d of February, 
1862, when, from the platform erected near the Washington 
monument in the Capitol Square, after prayer by Bishop Johns, 
lie delivered his inaugural address, in clear, but gravely modu- 
lated tones. I have ridden with him on horseback along the 
lines of fortification which guarded the city. I have had expe- 
riences of his courtesy in his house and in his office. I was with 
him in Danville after the evacuation, until the surrender at Ap- 
pomattox Court-house; and while I never aspired to intimacy 
with him, my opportunities were such as enabled me to learn 
the personal traits which characterized him as a man, as well as 
the official and public acts which marked his administration and 
which now form a part of the history of the country. 

For reasons like these I account for the invitation with which 
I am honored by my brethren and by my comrades of Lee Camp 
to address this great assembly to-day. 

And now permit me to say a word with regard to the kind 
of service which I deem appropriate to the hour and to the place 
where we meet. 



464 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



This is a memorial service, and not an occasion for the dis- 
cussion of topics which would be appropriate elsewhere and at 
another time. 

Every congregation assembled in our churches in these South- 
ern States to-day forms a part of the vast multitude which 
unites in mind and heart with the solemn assembly in New Or- 
leans, where, in the presence of the dead, the funeral services 
are in progress at this hour. There, all that is most tender and 
most impressive centres, and it becomes all who compose those 
outlying congregations to feel and act in sympathy with what 
is now passing in the sad, but queenly city which guards the 
gates of the Mississippi, in the church draped in sable, and 
where the bereaved sit beside the pall with hearts fillled 
with a sorrow which no outward emblems of mourning can 
express. 

If we place ourselves in sympathy with the emotions which 
concentre there, and which radiate to the wide circumference of 
the most distant congregations uniting in these obsequies, then 
how evident it is that political harangues and discussions calcu- 
lated to excite sectional animosities are utterly inappropriate to 
the hour. It is not the office of the minister of religion to deal 
controversially with the irritating subjects which awaken party 
strife. It is his duty and privilege to soften asperities, to recon- 
cile antagonistic elements, to plead for mutual forbearance, to 
urge such devotion to the common weal as to bring all the peo- 
ple, North, South, East, and West, into harmonious relations 
with each other, so as to combine all the resources of the entire 
country into unity of effort for the welfare of the whole. I trust 
this will be the tone and spirit of all the addresses made in the 
churches to-day throughout the South ; and may I not hope that 
as there are no geographical boundaries to the qualities which 
constitute noble manhood, such as courage, generosity, forti- 
tude, and personal honor, there will be many in the Northern 
and Western States who will be in sympathy with the eulogies- 
which will be pronounced to-day by the speakers who hold up 
to view those characteristics of their dead chieftain which have 
always commanded the admiration of right-minded and right- 
hearted men in all lands and in all centuries. 

The day is coming when the question will not relate so much 
to the color of the uniform, blue or gray, as to the character of 
the men who wore it ; when the question will be, who were most 
loyal to what they believed to be duty, who were most dauntless 



Appendix. 



465 



in danger, who most sublime in self-sacrifice, who illustrated 
most splendidly the ideal of the patriot soldier ? 

Before the commencement of the strife which ended in the 
dismemberment of the Union, all men familiar with the life of 
Mr. Davis, whether as a cadet at West Point, as a soldier in the 
Mexican war, as the Governor of his adopted State, or as a 
member of the Senate of the United States, agree in regarding 
him as entitled to the reputation he won as a gallant officer and 
a patriotic statesman. After the organization of the Southern 
Confederacy, whatever conflicting views men may entertain 
with regard to the righteousness of the part he took in its forma- 
tion, or as to the wisdom of his course as its Chief Magistrate, 
all alike admit the sincerity and the courage of his convictions, 
and the indomitable resolution with which he carried out his 
plans, with a decision that nothing could shake, and with a de- 
votion that sought nothing for self, but everything for the suc- 
cess of the cause to which he had consecrated his life. 

This leads to the inquiry as to the qualities and attributes 
which constitute the patriot statesman, the statesman needed for 
all time, but more especially for our own day and country. The 
opinion has been recently expressed by men whose words have 
great weight, that our legislative bodies should be composed 
for the most part of practical business men, thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the trade, the commerce, and the financial inter- 
ests of the country. With a single qualification, no one will 
controvert the truth of that statement, but taken alone it is an 
imperfect enunciation of the requirements of legislation. Asso- 
ciated with men no matter how conversant with the commercial 
interests of the country, we need legislators who are profound 
students of history, philosophy and ethics; men who have had 
time and opportunities for thought and for the thorough in- 
vestigation of the principles of government. I heard Lord 
Palmerston say in the speech he delivered at his inauguration 
as Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, that the difference 
between the statesmen of Great Britain and France was owing 
to the fact that the latter had been trained only in the exact 
sciences, while the former had been drilled in metaphysics and 
moral philosophy, and the result was, that while French legisla- 
tive assemblies had been filled with brilliant politicians, the 
British Parliament had been graced and dignified by men 
of the stamp of Burke and Chatham and Fox and Peel and 
Canning. 



4 66 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Who were the men who framed the government under which 
we live? Who wrote the masterly state papers which excited 
the wonder and admiration of the best thinkers of the old 
world? Who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the 
Constitution, which brought into union the independent colo- 
nial sovereignties? Who built up our system of jurisprudence, 
combining the merits of Roman civil law and English common 
law ? All of them students; men who, under the shade of their 
ancestral trees, in the retirement of their Southern country 
homes, had spent their lives in profound researches into the 
principles upon which just government is founded, and then 
were capable of elaborating and bringing into successful opera- 
tion the wisest form of government the world ever knew. Never 
were statesmen of this type so much needed in our national 
councils as now. 

Then I add, the statesman required for the times is one who 
has the courage and the ability to lead public opinion in ways 
that are right, instead of waiting to ascertain the popular drift, 
no matter how base, that he may servilely follow it. Unlike the 
popularity hunter, who never asks what is just, but what is 
politic, and then trims his sails so as to catch every breeze of 
public favor, the upright statesman, with the deep conviction 
that nothing that is morally wrong can be politically right, 
steers directly for the port of duty along a line in which no de- 
flection can be traced, and holds his course in the very teeth of 
the gale. While the demagogue dare attempt nothing, no mat- 
ter how noble, which might endanger his popularity, the patriot 
statesman, when assailed by obloquy, is not greatly troubled 
thereby, but calmly waits for the verdict of time, the great vin- 
dicator. 

When the path of duty becomes the path of danger, the up- 
right statesman is not intimidated, but remains firm as the rock 
in mid-ocean, against which the invading waves beat only to be 
shivered into spray. While the tricky demagogue spends all his 
energies in directing the tactics of a party, the broad-minded 
statesman aspires to build up a noble commonwealth, and rises 
above all that is selfish and mean, because the ends he aims at 
are those of country, God and truth. Men of great gifts often 
fail in public life because they lack the moral basis on which 
character alone can stand. After all, integrity is one of the 
strongest of living forces ; and what the people seek when their 
rights are imperilled is not so much for men of brilliant talents 



Appendix. 



467 



as for leaders whose chief characteristics are untarnished honor, 
incorruptible honesty, and the courage to do right at any 
hazard. 

It is admitted that even such men sometimes fail to secure the 
•triumph of the cause for which they toil and make every sacri- 
fice; but the very failures of such men are nobler than the 
success of the unprincipled intriguer. Reproach, persecution, 
misrepresentation and poverty, have often been the fate of those 
who have suffered the loss of all for the right and true; but 
they are not dishonored because the ignoble do not appreciate 
their character, aims and efforts. 

" Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes; they were souls that stood alone; 
While the men they agonized for, hurled the contumelious stone." 

Our admiration is more due to him who pursues the course 
he thinks right, in spite of disaster, than to one who succeeds 
by methods which reason and conscience condemn. Defeat is 
the discipline which often trains the heroic soul to its noblest de- 
velopment ; and when the conviction comes that he has strug- 
gled in vain, and must now yield to the inevitable, then he may, 
without shame, lay down his armor in the assurance that others 
will rise up and put it on, and in God's good time vindicate the 
principles which must ultimately triumph. 

Another of the lessons we learn from the eventful life just 
terminated is the emptiness and vanity of earthly glory, if it be 
the only prize for which the soul has contended. 'As for man, 
riis days are as grass. He cometh forth like a flower; in the 
morning it groweth up and flourisheth ; in the evening it is cut 
•down and withereth. Surely man at his best estate is altogether 
vanity." Wealth, honor, power, military renown, popularity, 
the constituent elements of what men call glory, how evanescent 
they are, and how unsatisfactory while they continue? What 
is earthly glory? It is the favor of the fickle multitude, the 
transient homage of the hour, the applause of the populace, 
dying away with the breath that fills the air with its empty 
clamor. Oftentimes its most impressive emblem is the bloody 
banner whose tattered folds bear mournful evidence of the 
price at which victory is won. It is the mouldering hatchment 
which hangs above the tomb of the dead warrior. It is the post- 
humous renown which stirs not one sweet emotion in the heart 
which lies still and chill in the coffin, and whose music never 
penetrates the dull cold ear of death. What is earthly glory? 



468 



Moses Drury Hogb. 



Listen: "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the 
flower of the grass ; the grass withereth, and the flower thereof 
falleth away "the wind passeth over it and it is gone.''' 

We are told that when Massillon pronounced one of those 
wonderful discourses which placed him in the first rank of pulpit 
orators he found himself in a church surrounded by the trap- 
pings and pageants of a royal funeral. The church was not only 
hung with black drapery, but the light of day was excluded, 
and only a few dim tapers burned on the altar. The beauty 
and chivalry of the land were spread out before him. The 
members of the royal family sat beneath him, clothed in the 
habiliments of mourning. There was silence — a breathless sus- 
pense. No sound broke the awful stillness. Massillon arose. 
His hands were folded on his bosom ; his eyes were lifted to 
heaven ; utterance seemed impossible. Presently his fixed look 
was unbent, his eye roved over the scene where every pomp was 
displayed, where every trophy was exhibited. That eye found 
no resting place amid all this idle parade and mocking vanity. 
At length it settled on the bier on which lay dead royalty, cov- 
ered with a pall. A sense of the indescribable nothingness of 
man, at his best estate, overcame him. His eyes once more 
closed; his very breath seemed suspended, until, in a scarce 
audible voice, he startled the deep silence with the words — 

" There is Nothing Great but God/' 

To-day, my hearers, we are warned that pallid death knocks 
with impartial hand at all doors. He enters, with equal free- 
dom the dwelling of the humblest citizen and the mansion of 
senator, sage and chieftain. He lays peasant and president: 
side by side, to repose in the silent, all-summoning cemetery. 

" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour ; 

The path of glory leads but to the grave." 

"There is nothing great but God; there is nothing solemn 
but death; there is nothing momentous but judgment." 

Finally, every life which is not made a preparation for the 
eternal future is a comedy, in folly — a tragedy, in fact. No 
matter how splendid its success, the life itself and all its pos- 
sessions are temporary. They are like the dissolving views of 
the panorama. Pietro de Medici commanded Michael Angelo 



Appendix. 



469 



to fashion a statue of snow. Think of such a man spending his 
time and splendid talents in shaping a snow image! But men 
who devote all their time and talents to temporal things, no mat- 
ter how noble, are modeling- and moulding with snow. "He 
builds too low who builds beneath the skies." He who expects 
an enduring portion from anything lower than the skies, from 
anything less stable than the heavens, from anything less suffi- 
cient than God is doomed to disappointment. The man with a 
mortal body inhabited by an immortal spirit, drifting to the 
eternal future without preparation for it, is like a richly 
freighted ship sailing round and round on an open sea, bound 
to no port, and which, by and by, goes down in darkness and 
storm. 

Very different was the course and conduct of the man for 
whom these Southern States are to-day paying the last sad rites 
of respect and affection. His life was one of intense occupation. 
Much of it was absorbed with exciting, exacting earthly duties ; 
but, in the midst of the pressure and distraction to which he 
was subjected, he remembered what time was made for; he 
remembered the endless life that follows this transient life. 
A^ery beautiful was the testimony of one of the most eminent 
of our Southern statesmen, whose own departure from the 
■earth was both a tragedy and a triumph, when he said, "I knew 
Jefferson Davis as I knew few men. I have been near him in 
his public duties ; I have seen him by his private fireside ; I 
have witnessed his humble, Christian devotions, and I challenge 
history when I say no people were ever led through a stormy 
struggle by a purer patriot, and the trials of public life never 
revealed a purer or more beautiful Christian character." 

Oh ! great is the contrast between the hopes and prospects 
of the worldling and those of the humble believer. The Duke 
of Marlborough, in his last illness, was carried to an apartment 
which contained a picture of one of his great battles. He gazed 
at it awhile, then exclaimed, "Ah ! the Duke was something 
then, but now he is a dying man." The Christian is something 
when he is dying. "His life is hid with Christ in God." 

The closing scenes in the life of Mr. Davis were marked by 
fortitude, by the gentle courtesy which never forsook him, and, 
above all, by sublime, though simple, trust in the all-sufficient 
Saviour. While the outward man was perishing, the inward 
man was renewed day by day. 

As the sculptor chips off the fragments of marble out of 



47o 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



which he is chiseling a statue, the decrease of the marble only 
marks the development of the statue. 

" The more the marble wastes, 
The more the statue grows." 

So it is with the spirit preparing to take its fight from the 
decaying vesture of the flesh to the place where it shall be both 
clothed and crowned. 

Such are some of the impressive lessons of the hour, and if 
duly heeded, this solemnity, instead of being a mere decorous- 
compliance with an executive summons, will be a preparation 
for the time when we shall follow our departed chief, and take 
our places among those who nobly fought and grandly tri- 
umphed ; and then, as now, will we sing, Glory be to the Father, 
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the be- 
ginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 



VI. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

On his Fiftieth Anniversary, in the Second Presbyterian Church, 
Richmond, Va., February 27, 1895. 

As I stand in this pulpit and look over the silent throng which 
crowds these pews and galleries and aisles, I am reminded that 
there are occasions when it is not true that "out of the abun- 
dance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Deep emotion, so far 
from inspiring ready and fluent utterance, often makes silence 
more natural than speech. I find it difficult to express in words 
the commingled emotions awakened by this anniversary. I can 
only say that the first and most fervent feeling that fills my heart 
is one of gratitude to God for sparing me to this happy hour — 
gratitude for permitting me to serve him for half a century in 
the ministry of the gospel, and gratitude for the unbroken har- 
mony which has existed among the members of my charge and 
between my people and myself, without a ripple of discord to 
mar it ; gratitude for the kind regards of the religious denomi- 
nations of this city, manifested to me in so many ways; and 
for the unity and brotherly love which have made their relations 
to each other so delightful. It would be impossible to enter 
upon the discussion of any of the topics appropriate to this anni- 
versary without first tendering my cordial thanks to the people 
of Richmond for the splendid reception accorded to me last 
night ; to the Masonic fraternity for the gratuitous use of their 
spacious temple; to the regiment of which I am chaplain, for 
its attendance in recognition of my interest in all that concerns 
its efficiency and honor, as well as for the coming of the How- 
itzers, Stuart Horse Guard, and the Blues; to Lee Camp, 
worthy of the illustrious name it bears ; for the visit of the vete- 
rans of the Soldiers' Home ; for the splendid testimonial of the 
Ladies' Hollywood Memorial Association ; for the Beth Ahaba's 
congratulation, exquisitely engrossed on parchment and richly 
framed ; to the Governor of the commonwealth and the resident 
members of his staff, and for the many official letters from 



472 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



churches and societies containing the resolutions adopted by 
each, and presented by some eminent representative ; to the dele- 
gation from Hoge Academy, Nottoway county ; to my ministe- 
rial brethren of every name, whose congratulations have made 
my heart happier and my hands stronger for the furtherance of 
the hallowed work in which we are all engaged ; and, lastly, to 
my honored friends, who have come from different parts of this 
State and from other States to grace this occasion by their per- 
sonal participation in these services. 

Had I chosen to deliver a regularly constructed sermon to- 
night I could easily have found more than one text in the Holy 
Scriptures which I could have used as the foundation of my 
discourse. I might have selected the injunction of Moses to the 
people whom he had led on their magnificent march from the 
land of bondage to the land of promise, when he enjoined them 
to remember all the way along which the Lord their God had 
conducted them, and then made "memories of the way" my 
theme; or I might have chosen the impressive act of Samuel 
when he took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen 
and said, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us ;" for holy remem- 
brance of the way along which God guides his people excites 
devout gratitude, and the monumental stone bearing the in- 
scription, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us," i's a perpetual 
acknowledgment of the great truth that all spiritual prosperity 
is to be ascribed to divine power and love. I trust that the spirit 
of both of these passages of scripture will pervade all that I have 
to say at this hour, but the freedom and familiarity of an address 
rather than the formality of a sermon will enable me to intro- 
duce topics and personal reminiscences of men and events which 
could not logically be deduced from any text. I therefore crave 
your indulgence and sympathy while I undertake the delicate 
and difficult task of trying to frame a discourse full of personal 
recollections without egotism or assumption. 

If such a feeling were to arise in my mind, all self-gratulation 
would be instantly rebuked by the remembrance of the accumu- 
lated responsibility incurred by a ministry of fifty years. When 
I call to mind the fact that I have preached to more souls now 
gone to their final account than are to be found in this great 
assembly of the living to-night; when I review the imperfect 
manner in which I discharged my trust to those who are now 
beyond the reach of any influence; when I am startled by the 
solemn conviction that my ministry would have been more 



Appendix. 



473 



useful, both to the living and the dead, had I preached more 
faithfully, tenderly, lovingly — while the solemn weight of 
thoughts like these oppress my spirit, be assured there is no 
room for assumption or vain glory, whatever room there may 
be for penitence and tears. If, then, I speak of much that is 
personal, I beg you to ascribe it to the only purpose I have in 
so doing, which is the better to enable me to portray the history 
of the church to which I have so long ministered, and to illus- 
trate God's providence and grace in his dealings with pastor 
and people. 

It was a singular providence that brought me to this city. As 
I drew near to the end of my course in the Theological Semi- 
nary, a little country church in Mecklenburg county signified 
its wish to engage me as its pastor as soon as I obtained my 
license. Its attention was called to me, no doubt, chiefly because 
it bore the name of both of my grandfathers ; it was called the 
Lacy-Hoge Church. About that time, however, the venerable 
Dr. Plumer, then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in this 
city, made a visit to Prince Edward, and told me I would pro- 
bably be invited to this city to become his assistant. I assured 
him of my preference for a small country charge — at least until 
I gained some experience and had composed some sermons. 
The Doctor requested a meeting of the faculty of the Theologi- 
cal Seminary, explained his wishes to them, and sent for me. 
They united in advising me to go to Richmond in case I re- 
ceived an invitation. There was another small church in an- 
other county to which I had been recommended, but all prospect 
of my settlement there was blighted by an influential elder, who 
frankly told the people that he did not think me qualified for 
the position. Thus in two instances my desire to become a 
country pastor was disappointed. 

I was licensed to preach at a meeting of presbytery in Lynch- 
burg. The circumstances were without any parallel. It was 
the same church in which my father was licensed, and what 
made the event unique was the fact that his father was the 
Moderator of the presbytery, and gave the charge to his son. 
Thus three generations of the same family were connected by 
;this strange sequence of services in the same church. 

In the year 1844 I was invited to Richmond by the session 
of the First Presbyterian Church. The invitation was accepted, 
and the arrangement made by which I was to become the as- 
sistant of Dr. Plumer until a lot could be purchased and a small 



474 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



building erected, with the view of ascertaining whether another 
congregation could be collected in a new locality. The lot on 
which the building stands in which we are now gathered was 
purchased, a lecture-room built, a congregation gathered, and on 
the 27th of February, 1845, I was installed as pastor — the Rev. 
Dr. Leyburn preaching the ordination sermon, Dr. Plumer de- 
livering the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. William Lyon- 
the charge to the people. In a few months it was found that 
the lecture-room was too small for the needs of the congrega- 
tion, and plans were adopted for the erection of a more com- 
modious house of worship. Mr. Samuel P. Hawes, the father 
of one of the officers of this church, and myself went to New 
York to obtain a model for the new church building ; an archi- 
tect of that city was chosen, who drew the plans in accordance 
with which it was erected. It was dedicated to the worship of 
Almighty God in the year 1848, a dedication hymn having been 
composed by the late John R. Thompson, and introduced into 
the hymn-book subsequently authorized by our General Assem- 
bly. In the process of time the edifice was found too small for 
the requirements of the congregation, and it was enlarged by 
throwing a transept across the eastern end, thus adding two- 
wings to the building, enlarging and beautifying it at the same 
time. This was done in the most satisfactory manner by Mr. 
George Gibson, the only member of this church present at my 
ordination who is here to-night. 

An incident connected with the early history of the enterprise- 
illustrates the growth of our city westward. When the officers- 
of the First Presbyterian Church proposed to purchase the lot 
on which this edifice stands, it was earnestly opposed by an in- 
fluential member on the ground that it was too far up town, and 
that a congregation could not be gathered at this remote region. 
Now this church stands in the centre of the city — equi-distant 
from the Lee statue on the west and the Soldiers and Sailors^ 
monument on the east. 

When a church has increased in wealth and numbers to a 
strength justifying such enterprise, it is made still stronger and' 
more efficient by sending out colonies to establish new organi- 
zations. In the year 1882 this church sent forth its first colony. 
It occupied the building erected on west Grace street near the- 
Richmond College, the chief contributor being the late Dr. 
James McDowell, son of Governor McDowell, of Rockbridge 
county. Its first pastor was the Rev. Peyton Harrison Hoge,. 



Appendix. 



475 



under whose ministry it was steadily advancing, until his re- 
moval to Wilmington, N. C. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
A. R. Holderby, now a happy pastor in Atlanta, Ga. Its third 
pastor is the Rev. J. Calvin Stewart, under whose administration 
another locality has been chosen and a new church edifice- 
erected, with the prospect of another structure, I trust, in the 
near future, worthy of the admirable position it will occupy 
and of the zeal of its beloved pastor. 

The second colony sent out from this church found its quar- 
ters in the Old Market Hall. It is now an organized and pros- 
perous church, with a little colony of its own. The history of 
this enterprise is too well known to need rehearsal here. So- 
much has been already published about it in the newspaper press. 
all over the country that its name has become familiar to thou- 
sands, and its story better known than that of many of the old 
and wealthy churches of our great cities. 

One of the peculiar honors with which this church has been 
crowned is the number of its young men who have become 
eminent and successful ministers and missionaries of the cross. 
I need not enumerate them, but I may say they are to be found 
occupying conspicuous positions and everywhere recognized 
and honored for their successful labors. One of the most dis- 
tinguished of these, of whom I must say a few loving words,, 
was the late Edward Lane, missionary to Brazil. The literal 
history of his life would read like a romance. He seemed to- 
possess all the endowments needed for the work to which he 
consecrated his life. It was one of noble Christian chivalry. 
He died like a hero, at the post of duty. It was my privilege to 
render him a small service at a critical time in his life, which 
he abundantly overpaid by his loyal affection. He was my guest 
during his last visit to Richmond. As we parted he told me that 
should he be disabled by any cause from service in the mission- 
ary field, he would come back to me and connect himself with 
my church again, and spend the remainder of his days in the- 
humblest work I chose to assign to him. Alas ! that he never 
came — or rather, blessed be God, that he never came, for when- 
his earthly work was done, he had a higher call, and went up to 
engage in the nobler service which God assigns to those who 
have been faithful unto death. Four of the former members of 
this church, three of them women, are now in the foreign field. 

And of the men trained here for the ministry in the home 
field, I may mention that of the four sons of my ever-lamented' 



476 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



friend and elder, John B. Martin, three still survive, honored 
and useful in their respective charges. 

With humble and devout gratitude, I thank God for making 
me the pastor of so many young men who have become leaders 
in the sacramental host both in the home and foreign field. 

In this connection, I yield to the impulse which constrains me 
to pay an affectionate tribute to the memory of two of the most 
remarkable women that ever took part in the benevolent work 
of this church. Mrs. Elizabeth H. Brown, wife of the late Dr. 
William Brown, secretary of our Ladies' Benevolent Society, 
had the capacity, beyond that of any woman I ever knew, of 
carrying more things at one time in her mind and heart and of 
attending to them all, with the most wonderful success, without 
confusion, without embarrassment, without waste of time, and 
without forgetfulness. There was no society organized for be- 
nevolent purposes in which she was not the inspiration and the 
most earnest worker; and yet for twenty years of physical 
weakness there was probably not a day when she was exempt 
from pain. She assisted her husband in the Central Presbyte- 
rian office all the forenoon of every day, visited the afflicted, 
the lonely, and the poor in my congregation every afternoon, 
and at night wrote innumerable letters of business and friend- 
ship. I once advised her to take every Sunday afternoon for 
quiet physical rest in her own chamber. "What," said she, "in 
my room at the very hour when all my friends are worshiping 
in our church ! Oh ! no. After the toils of the week and Sun- 
day forenoon services, 1 the worship of the afternoon gives me 
my most delightful repose. I find my best refreshment and 
invigoration in waiting upon God at the second service." It 
was thus that she prepared for the toils of the secular week 
and for the heavenly rest. 

During the late war between the States, rarely did a train, an 
ambulance, or a messenger leave this city for the lines, that did 
not convey some parcel of clothing, or of books, or of something 
prepared by her own hands that might minister to the comfort 
oi her soldier boys in camp ; or if these could not be sent, then, 
remembering how many a young man in his hours of loneliness, 
privation, and home-sickness would be cheered by letters filled 
with sympathy and encouragement from a Christian woman — 
perhaps the friend of his mother or sister — she sent, in numbers 
never to be known, messages of comfort whose value can never 
be estimated. 

1 She was a laborious teacher in the morning Sunday-school. 



Appendix. 



477 



She died in Fredericksburg, but it was every way fitting that 
she should be buried in Hollywood Cemetery, and that she 
should be followed to her last resting place by a great reti- 
nue of weeping friends to whom her life had been a bene- 
diction. 

Another remarkable woman who lived and died in the com- 
munion of this church was Mrs. Jane Schoolcraft Howard. 
Not one of those who daily met this plain-looking, plainly 
dressed little woman on the streets of Richmond, intent on some 
benevolent errand, would have dreamed that her life had been 
one full of dramatic interest and strange vicissitudes, such as 
fiction sometimes invests with romantic charm. 

During the reign of Queen Anne an English gentleman of 
the name of Schoolcraft, of distinguished lineage and aristo- 
cratic bearing, emigrated to America. One of his descendants 
was Colonel Lawrence Schoolcraft, an officer of great capacity 
and courage during the Revolutionary war. The youngest son 
of this officer was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, the renowned ex- 
plorer of the head waters of the Mississippi river, the ethnolo- 
gist, antiquarian, and historian. He published a work on the 
Indian tribes of North America, and another entitled, "The 
Myth of Hiawatha." He gave to Air. Longfellow the sugges- 
tion on which he founded his beautiful poem of Hiawatha. 
While residing near Lake Superior, Mr. Schoolcraft became 
acquainted with John Johnston, Esq., an Irish gentleman of 
great culture and courtly manners, a kinsman of the Attorney- 
General of Ireland. During Mr. Johnston's residence in the 
vicinity of Mr. Schoolcraft's, he was attracted by the great 
beauty of the daughter of the renowned chief of the Chippewa 
nation and married her. His eldest daughter, Jane, was sent to 
Europe to be educated, and on her return her charms of person 
and character won the love of Mr. Schoolcraft, who married 
her. Of the four children born to this pair one was Jane School- 
craft, who became the wife of the late Benjamin S. Howard, 
who died last year at his old home in South Carolina. Mrs. 
Schoolcraft, her mother, through pride in her descent from one 
of the native kings of the country, perfected herself in the 
knowledge of the Indian languages. Her daughter, Jane, our 
Mrs. Howard, assisted her father in all of his literary work, 
and became acquainted with many of the distinguished states- 
men and scholars, who were frequent visitors at her father's 
house after his removal to Washington city. 



478 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Among the remarkable incidents of her life was the frequency 
with which she came near to the possession of great wealth 
without obtaining it, and the grace with which she afterwards 
submitted to a life of poverty after a youth spent in affluence. 
I cannot relate the history of the manner in which her father 
lost his interest in a great domain belonging to the Indian 
princess, her grandmother, through the trickery of land agents, 
and which, had it been secured, would have enriched the entire 
family. Nor can I take time to speak of the loss of another for- 
tune which seemed to be within her reach. Mrs. Howard was 
never heard to murmur at these great reverses. Poor in this 
world's goods, she was rich in faith and in good works. 

For many years she was the efficient teacher of the children's 
department of our Sabbath-school. She was the secretary and 
treasurer of the Ladies' Benevolent Society, which she main- 
tained in a state of the highest efficiency. Mind and heart were 
devoted to the advancement of the welfare of her church, in all 
the departments of industry and enterprise, and she found in toil 
an inexpressible delight. 

It is worthy of notice that she rarely referred to her distin- 
guished ancestry, even among her most intimate friends ; rarely 
mentioning the names of the eminent literary men with whom 
she associated in her youth at her father's home in Washington, 
and never complained of the great reverses of fortune to which 
she had been subjected. 

A great audience gathered at her funeral, and many were 
the tears shed when her remains were carried from the house 
in which for thirty years she had worshipped. It was a coinci- 
dence grateful to many that the place of her burial was close to 
the grave of Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, who had held the same 
offices which Mrs. Howard subsequently filled, and the memory 
of whose pious labors is still cherished with undying respect 
and affection. 

One of the most eminent men ever connected with this church 
was Judge Robert Ould. In early life he chose the profession 
of the law, which he preferred above all others, save one, which 
in later life he ranked above any secular calling, and his choice 
was a noble one. "Our human laws," says a modern writer, 
"are but copies, more or less perfect, of the eternal laws, so far 
as we can read them." Law has been called the perfection of 
reason. It is the visible impersonation of justice, the tangible 
embodiment of right. Law touches society at every point; 



Appendix. 



479 



guards property, life, and character ; it curbs license, circum- 
vents fraud, protects the feeble; honors good faith, and binds 
the turbulent in chains. It secures social order, shields domestic 
happiness, and makes national prosperity possible. Such was 
the noble profession of his choice. Two of my barrister neigh- 
bors and friends, neither knowing what the other had said, 
declared to me that they regarded Robert Ould as possessed 
of the finest intellectual powers of any man in the common- 
wealth. 

A great and eventful change took place in his life soon after 
he became a regular attendant on the services in this church. 
He became a communicant, and then a ruling elder. After his 
conversion he took up theology as he would a new treatise on 
science or international law, but with a reverential interest such 
as no secular studies could have awakened. He became a 
teacher of a Bible-class, for which he began to prepare his lec- 
tures on Monday morning, lest the pressure of professional en- 
gagements should hinder his study of the lesson for the follow- 
ing Sabbath at the close of the week. He became an earnest 
•student of polemics and church government, and came to an 
unalterable conclusion as to the scriptural origin of the creed 
and confession of the church of his choice. He became occa- 
sionally a delegate to church courts, in which he was always 
heard with deference, because of his familiarity with ecclesiasti- 
cal law, and his fair, lucid, judicial style of discussion. He was 
a generous contributor to all the benevolent enterprises of the 
church, and a regular attendant upon all of its services — twice 
on the Sabbath, and once during the week — even when failing 
health made his regular attendance difficult and hazardous. 
Never did pastor have a more appreciative, loyal, loving ally in 
all his work ; never did death deprive one of a more trustworthy 
friend and efficient helper. 

In this connection, I come now to speak of my relations to 
other churches and to the eminent pastors of my own and other 
denominations. I have never bounded my social relations or 
friendships by denominational lines. It always seemed absurd 
to me to allow our honest differences of opinion, with regard 
to forms of church government and modes of worship, to control 
our associations and intimacies with persons of kindred tastes 
and congenial qualities of mind and heart. 

Only those who have had similar experiences can know how 
much a young minister who is conscious of his crude and callow 



480 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



performances in the pulpit can be helped by a few kind words: 
of encouragement. During the first year of my ministry in this 
city, having to preach alternately with an eminent divine like 
Dr. Plumer, I was often depressed when my time for conduct- 
ing the service came, in thinking of how severely I was taxing 
the generous forbearance of those who had to listen. All know 
what a trial it is to a novice to preach to a cultivated audience, 
and all know also what trial it is to such an audience to listen 
to the novice ! The first note of cheer was given in an article 
which appeared in one of the daily papers, written, as I after- 
wards learned, by Mr. James E. Heath, a member of the Epis- 
copal Church, and a gentleman of cultivated and refined literary 
taste. The next was an editorial by Mr. John Hampden Pleas- 
ants, in the Richmond Whig, who afterwards became an atten- 
dant on my ministry and a cordial friend. The last sermon he 
ever heard I delivered in my little lecture-room. 

During the war with Mexico a son of the Hon. John Minor 
Botts died in that country, and his remains were brought to 
Richmond for interment. At that day it was the custom to 
preach funeral sermons, a custom now happily abandoned, and 
the venerable Dr. Empie, rector of St. James' Church, hearing 
that the relatives of the deceased, who were his parishioners, 
wished me to deliver the discourse, invited me to occupy his 
pulpit that I might perform that office ; and thus my friendship 
with that aged servant of God, whose tremulous tones in read- 
ing the service still sounds in my ears, began. These were 
among my earliest encouragements, and they did not come from 
Presbyterian sources. 

My most intimate friend among our Presbyterian divines was 
Dr. Thomas Verner Moore, whose name is still like fragrance 
from a garden of spices, and whose distinction it was to possess 
an unusual variety of gifts, all so harmonized as to produce a 
character of rare and beautiful symmetry. 

Next to him my most pleasant associations were with the ver- 
satile and eloquent Dr. Duncan, of the Methodist Church ; and 
then later in years, dear old Dr. Minnigerode became one of 
my most intimate friends. The last letter I ever received from 
him, and probably one of the latest letters of his life, was written 
from Alexandria on the 20th of July, 1894, and in its conclusion 
he makes such a reference to this anniversary that I will repro- 
duce it here: "I wish, my dear brother, we could meet occa- 
sionally, but my roaming days are over, and I can do no more, 



Appendix. 



-even on the fiftieth anniversary of your ministry in your own 
dear church, than remember you lovingly and rejoice in all 
your happiness and blessings." He cannot remember me to- 
night, unless the memories of earth are perpetuated in heaven, 
where there is no night ! His letter is written in a tremulous, 
wavering hand, but there was no wavering in his affection for 
•me, and no kind wish for my welfare which I did not return 
with all my heart. 

Richmond, for more than a century the social as well as politi- 
cal capital of the commonwealth, from its earliest history has 
been the home of men whose distinction in the learned profes- 
sions, or whose reputation as jurists, patriots and sages, has 
given lustre to the State and to the republic, and has gained for 
itself a prominence not accorded many cities of our land far sur- 
passing it in wealth and population. It has also been the home of 
a long line of eminent ministers of the gospel, whose piety and 
usefulness conferred dignity on their calling while they lived, 
and now that they have been removed to a higher sphere of ser- 
vice, we who survive cherish their memories with undying 
affection and perpetuate the story of their toils and triumphs for 
the study, the imitation, and the inspiration of the generations 
to come. Among these, in addition to those I have mentioned, 
we hold in grateful remembrance the cheerful and pious Buch- 
anan, the amiable and gifted Blair, the venerable Bishop Moore, 
the learned and eloquent Rice, the fervid John Kerr, and Arm- 
strong, of sweet, apostolic piety, and Empie, grave, dignified 
and courteous, and Woodbridge, the upright man and model 
pastor, and Norwood, cordial, earnest, loyal to his Lord, and 
James B. Taylor, the holy man of God, and Stephen Taylor, full 
of faith and the Holy Ghost, and Stiles, full of heroic ardor and 
consecrated enthusiasm, and Jeter, famed for candor, courage 
and steadfast devotion to truth, and Doggett, philosophic, ad- 
ministrative and studious, and Father Courtney, with the silver 
hair and heart of love, and Burroughs, many-sided, philan- 
thropic, diligent, and Peterkin, always reminding one of the 
disciple whom Jesus loved, and who reclined on the bosom of his 
Lord. How rich is our inheritance with the memories of these 
saintly men treasured in our hearts ! 

In this connection, among the most impressive scenes con- 
nected with the hundreds of funerals at which I have officiated, 
I recall most vividly all that occurred when we gathered in the 
First Presbyterian Church to pay the last tribute of our love 



482 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



to Dr. Plumer, just preceding his interment in Hollywood- 
He was laid, I might say, in state — the coffin-lid removed, re- 
vealing that majestic face and form. There we saw that strange 
sad charm which the repose of death gives to the face in it& 
final aspect of rest and peace; the silver beard covered the 
breast like a wreath of snow; every feature distinct in its- 
marble purity and strength, yet softened as if by the gentlest- 
touches of the sculptor's chisel. Many affecting scenes did I 
witness in that edifice, standing then on the ground where the 
City Hall now rears its imposing front, but none fuller of sol- 
emn and tender impressiveness than when these obsequies were 
held within its walls. None who were present will ever forget 
the hour ; the vast assembly so hushed and still, the silent tears 
that fell, the tributes of affection from the lips and hearts of 
representatives of different denominations. My brethren, de- 
nominational barriers get very low in the presence of the sainted 
dead ! 

In this connection, too, I may allude to the event which stirred 
the heart of all the city more deeply than any other since the: 
burning of the Richmond Theatre, when the play of "The 
Bleeding Nun" was so quickly followed by the tragedy of 
bleeding hearts. The calamity to which I now refer is oftenest 
called the "Capitol disaster," when sixty-five persons were killed 
by the breaking down of a floor, and two hundred wounded, 
many of them maimed for life. In the public meeting held in 
the Capitol Square immediately after the catastrophe there was 
one of the most wonderful testimonies borne to the supreme 
importance of religion known in our annals; for there, before 
the southern portico of the Capitol, under the open sky, were 
assembled thousands of citizens, not only hushed and reveren- 
tial, as is this audience to-night, but listening to appeals coming 
— not from clergymen — but from members of the legal profes- 
sion, not one of whom was then a church-member, importuning 
their hearers to attend at once to the great duties of repentance, 
faith, and preparation for eternity. It was as when the Spirit 
of God fell on Saul, placing him for the time among the 
prophets, enabling him to speak with the awful tones of a 
prophet's voice, with a prophet's authority and power. These 
laymen, under the overwhelming influence of the solemn provi- 
dence impelling them, urged those to whom they spoke to 
humble themselves under the mighty hand of God ; to avoid the 
fatal error of presuming on to-morrow, and at once to begin the 



Appendix. 



483 



needed preparation for the eternal future. The following 
Thursday was set apart for religious observance in all the 
churches. Sermons on the Capitol disaster were preached by 
many of the pastors. What a spectacle did that Thursday pre- 
sent ! Had that public religious observance been assigned to 
the Sabbath, there would have been nothing unusual in the 
silence of the city ; but on a week-day, a secular day, what a 
strange event it was in a busy, commercial community, to find 
all business suspended, all public offices and places of amuse- 
ment closed, the houses of God alone open, and thronged with 
people of every age and class ; subdued by a common sadness, 
the entire population of the city bowed in penitence before the 
Lord ! 

I have made these references to the Capitol disaster because 
of the illustration it affords of the way Divine Providence often 
overrules great calamities for the spiritual welfare of the whole 
people. The influence of that dispensation of sanctified be- 
reavement is still felt in this city. At the time of the disaster the 
dark cloud that hovered over us was converted into a pavilion 
for prayer. Its borders were fringed with a holy light, drops 
of mercy fell on the mourning people, and the impression then 
made of the transcendent importance of eternal things abides 
to this day. 

Another memorable event, never to be forgotten, was the 
evacuation of the city near the close of the war. It is not my 
purpose to reproduce the lurid picture which that night of terror 
presents ; the thunder of military wagons over the stony streets, 
the flame of burning bridges and warehouses, the deafening 
detonations of exploding shells, the canopy of dense smoke 
hanging like a pall over the city — ah ! no, let me drop the 
curtain on that scene of desolation and woe, and turn to the 
consideration of what more especially relates to this present 
hour. 

When the Confederate struggle commenced, I became a 
volunteer chaplain in the camp of instruction, occupying what 
are now called the Agricultural Fair Grounds, without resign- 
ing my pastoral charge of this church. In order that I might 
preach to the soldiers every Sunday afternoon, Dr. Moore, then 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, occupied my pulpit at 
the same hour when I was holding my service with the soldiers 
in the camp, and I officiated, in return for his kindness, in his 
church at night. 



4 8 4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Camp Lee, as it was called, was the camp of instruction, 
where newly enlisted regiments were drilled and equipped for 
the field, some of them remaining there for a few weeks, others 
for several months, as the exigencies of the case might demand. 
A hundred thousand men passed through that camp during my 
connection with it. A hundred thousand men was a large num- 
ber to become acquainted with. The acquaintance was largely 
on their part, it is true ; they all knew me as their chaplain ; my 
regret is that I could not know every one of them by name. I 
preached there once every Sabbath, and oftener during the 
week, visiting the hospitals as I had opportunity. I then learned 
what a fearful destitution of Bibles there was among our sol- 
diers. I sent to Nashville and Charleston for as many as could 
be spared from those cities, and made an appeal to the Virginia 
people for the gift of as many Bibles as could be spared from 
their own families. The supply was not sufficient for the ever- 
increasing demand. On one occasion, when I had received a 
box from the West, after my sermon was ended I stood on a 
caisson, and, with the Bibles and Testaments before me, an- 
nounced that I was ready to distribute them. There was an 
immediate rush of men with extended hands for the precious 
volumes. Many on the outer verge of the crowd, fearing the 
supply would be exhausted before they could reach me, cried 
out, calling me by different titles, "Parson," "Doctor," "Chap- 
lain," "save one for me." Alas ! for the number who were dis- 
appointed ! 

It was at this juncture that the Virginia Bible Society pro- 
posed that I should make a voyage to England for the purpose 
of obtaining a supply from the British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety. A voyage to England is ordinarily an easy and pleasant 
affair — I have made it many times ; but then it was a very differ- 
ent matter. I got ready in a single day and night. I left Rich- 
mond in the dead of winter, and had to run the blockade in 
going from Charleston to Nassau, from Nassau in a little 
schooner to Cuba, from Cuba to the Danish Island of St. 
Thomas in a coasting vessel, and from St. Thomas to South- 
ampton in the Tasmania, of the Royal Mail Line from Brazil 
to Southampton, thus reaching England by four successive 
voyages. 

The Hon. James M. Mason was then in London, awaiting the 
recognition of the Confederate government — a recognition that 
never came. Mr. Mason was well acquainted with the Earl of 



Appendix. 485 

Shaftesbury, and one day, in making him a visit, he told his 
Lordship of my arrival, and of the purpose of my coming. 
"Ask him to come and see me," was the response, "and I will do 
what I can to make his errand a successful one." I gladly 
availed myself of the unexpected and unsolicited invitation of 
the president of the British and Foreign Bible Society. He was 
kind enough, to call a meeting, and on introducing me courte- 
ously requested me to take time to state whatever I might con- 
sider interesting in reference to my errand. As I was the first 
and only person from the South who had addressed that body, 
I could not complain of want of attention, coming, as I did, 
from the beleaguered capital of the Confederacy, and during the 
most critical period of the history of the great conflict. The 
result of my appeal was a free grant of ten thousand Bibles, fifty 
thousand Testaments, and two hundred and fifty thousand por- 
tions — that is, the Psalms, Proverbs and Gospels — bound sepa- 
rately, in glazed covers, with red edges and rounded corners — ■ 
just the thing to put in the jackets of the soldiers. The value 
of this grant was four thousand pounds (twenty thousand dol- 
lars ) , the best fee I ever got for a single speech ! 

I remained in London several months, superintending the 
shipment of the boxes containing these Bibles on the Confeder- 
ate blockade-runners. Only a few boxes could be sent at a 
time, as all the space of these swift little vessels was needed for 
the transmission of provisions and munitions of war. Of 
course, many of these vessels were captured, but at least 
three-fourths of the Bibles reached the Confederacy. This 
was during the third year of the war ; and I had my re- 
ward on my return in visiting the camps and hospitals, and 
in riding along the lines, where I saw so many of the men, 
waiting to be called into battle, reading these little red-edged 
volumes. 

One day it occurred to me to send a copy of these Bibles to 
several of the great leaders in our Confederate army, accom- 
panied by a note to each, explaining that they were brought 
from England by the blockade-running vessels. The result was 
deeply gratifying to me, as I was rewarded by receiving letters 
of acknowledgment (which have never been published), and the 
originals having been carefully preserved, I regard them as the 
most precious relics of the war and of the noble men who wrote 
them. The significance and value of these letters consists in the 
tribute they pay to the excellence of the Holy Scriptures as the 



4 86 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



guide of life, and they illustrate the devout spirit of the great 
leaders in our Confederate army. 1 

When the war was over, and when the melancholy days of 
reconstruction came, it was a significant fact that so many of 
the Federal officers in command of this military district at- 
tended my church. Knowing as they did my devotion to the 
Confederate cause, one would have supposed that they would 
prefer the ministry of some one whose position had not been so 
pronounced. Not one of them, so far as I know, held me in less 
respect on that account. General Patrick and General Schofield 
both took pews in my church. General Patrick and myself had 
some candid discussions about the war, but they never inter- 
fered with our pleasant intercourse, though he told me one day 
that it grieved him to find me so inflexible. In a family afflic- 
tion sustained during his administration, it would not have 
been possible for any one to have shown me more sympathy and 
considerate kindness. We never came any nearer to agreement 
on one subject, but we became fast friends, notwithstanding. 

My personal relations with General Schofield were also both 
harmonious and happy, and I cherish a lively remembrance of 
the assurance he gave me of his personal regard when he came 
to bid me farewell on being relieved of his command in this 
district. 

I cannot forget that I am delivering an historic address, 
which, with all its demerits, will go on the permanent records of 
this church, and be referred to when its hundredth anniversary 
shall come. Your descendants will wish to know the materials 
of which it was composed, the character of the congregations 
gathered at its services, the kind of officers that managed its 
affairs, temporal and spiritual, and the causes of whatever mea- 
sure of prosperity it attained. 

I will, therefore, in the briefest way, leave as a legacy to those 
who care to inherit it in after times, these statements : 

1. It was a church which for fifty years had no feuds or fac- 
tions in it ; a church that had no disturbing waves on the tran- 
quil current of its corporate life. 

2. Its officers were men who were elected because those who 
called them to bear rule believed them to be men of sincere piety 
and consecrated lives. They were men of good repute in the 

1 At this point Rev. Dr. Kerr read the letters that are printed on 
pp. 196, 197. 



Appendix. 



487 



community, entitled to confidence and respect, because of their 
intelligence, education and social standing. From the time of its 
organization there was always wonderful harmony in the body 
of men forming what we call the church session, composed of 
the pastor and ruling elders; never having had a dissension 
among them, but always agreeing in the measures adopted for 
the promotion of the peace, the purity and prosperity of the 
church entrusted to their care. 

3. The pastor was never hampered or interfered with in his 
special department of service, but treated with a generous confi- 
dence that left him free to make such disposition of his time of 
rest and of labor as best suited his own health and comfort, and 
to conduct the services of the church in the way he thought most 
conducive to its spiritual advantage. 

4. The deacons and board of finance, having charge of the 
temporal affairs of the church, always gave to it their time, 
their generous support, and their cooperation in all the matters 
l>y which its outward and material prosperity might be secured 
and advanced. 

5. The female members of the church were characterized by 
their intelligent and zealous and hearty devotion to the work 
•of the different societies organized among them for benevolent 
purposes of every kind, and no other agency has accomplished 
more for the prosperity of this church or for the great enter- 
prises of Christian philanthropy, by which the world is benefited 
and blessed. 

One of the advantages I have enjoyed — one which my cleri- 
cal brethren will appreciate — has been that, in the congregations 
to which I have ministered during all these years there has been 
such a large proportion of educated men, many of them con- 
spicuously eminent and distinguished in their respective profes- 
sions. 

Among these I may enumerate the judges of the Court of 
Appeals and of the Federal courts ; physicians of national re- 
nown; lawyers whose genius and learning gave them wide- 
spread and deserved celebrity; nearly all of the governors of 
our commonwealth since the year 1848 ; editors whose pens 
illuminated their columns, and whose ability and fairness in 
discussing public questions invested them with an influence that 
was felt all over the Union, and many successful teachers and 
professors in our schools and colleges. 

Chief Justice Chase, though belonging to another denomina- 



4 88 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



tion, regularly attended the services of this church, and the last 
sermon he heard was in one of the pews immediately before me. 
During the war our great military leaders often worshipped 
here, as well as the secretaries in the different departments of 
the Confederate government. 

This was never called "The Church of the Strangers," but it- 
is the church in which thousands of strangers, spending a Sab- 
bath in Richmond, have found a welcome, thus vastly increasing 
the number of those to whom it had been my privilege to pro- 
claim the great truths of the divine word. 

It was my purpose to conclude this address with a somewhat 
extended reference to what I hope I have gained as a pastor by 
my frequent visits to the Old World, but I have more than ex- 
hausted the time allotted to this service. Foreign travel, not for 
the mere gratification of curiosity, but for the study of institu- 
tions, race diversities, schools of art, modes of worship, and the 
influence of different religions on practical morality; all this; 
may become an important part of a minister's education and 
preparation for the pulpit. This is especially true of travel in- 
Oriental lands, and, above all, in Palestine. 

My ever-to-be-lamented friend, the late Dr. Henry C. Alexan- 
der, once told me that when lecturing to his class in the Theolog- 
ical Seminary, when he came to speak of memorable places in the 
Holy Land, or when he attempted to trace the journeys of our 
Lord, he sometimes felt like abruptly leaving the lecture-room 
and taking the first train for New York, that he might embark 
for Palestine, and explore the country personally, so that he 
might not thereafter have to get his information from book3 
that others had written, making it necessary to go before his 
class with second-hand knowledge, but that by personal explo- 
ration of the land he might learn for himself what he had to 
teach others. 

There are many who have a similar yearning ; but let me say 
for the comfort of those who can never hope to enjoy a personal 
inspection of the land where the Bible was written, and where 
their Lord was born, that they may console themselves some- 
what for the want of actual sight by the remembrance of that — 

" Faith still has its Olivet, 
And love its Galilee," 

for those who never get a glimpse of either. I say, console 
themselves somewhat, for it is unquestionably a privilege to 



Appendix. 489 

"see the goodly land that is beyond Jordan," and to walk over 
the acres once trodden by the feet which were ' 'nailed for our 
advantage to the bitter cross." 

I can never forget the thrill experienced on the bright morn- 
ing when from the deck of the steamer I caught sight of the 
dim outlines of Mount Carmel, and the blue hills of Judea, and 
the promontory on which Jaffa stands, and the low-lying coast 
fringed with yellow sand, and when the irrepressible exclama- 
tion came, "There is Palestine, at last !" 

Hundreds of times my memories of scenes, events or expe- 
riences in that land have influenced trains of thought in my ser- 
mons or given me confidence in speaking of its physical aspects 
and sacred localities. My Oriental tour, made possible and 
pleasant by the dear friends who accompanied me — Mr. and 
Mrs. Pemberton — took in the cities of Alexandria, Cairo, Jeru- 
salem, Beyrout, Damascus, the ruins of Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon 
and Ephesus, and the cities of Rhodes, Smyrna and Constanti- 
nople. 

It is no small advantage, either, to have had the opportunity 
of hearing the great divines in the chief cities of Europe and in 
the British Isles. 

Some of you have asked me to give you my recollections of 
those whom I have heard preach and with some of whom I be- 
came acquainted. Three of the most interesting of these were 
Drs. Caesar Malan, of Geneva ; Bersier, of Paris, and Cook, the 
great polemic, of Belfast. 

Several times I heard Dean Stanley in Westminster Abbey. 
One day, in speaking with the Dean of a visit I was about to 
make to Scotland, he said, "If you have never heard Dr. Mc- 
Gregor, of St. Cuthbert's, in Edinburgh, be sure to hear him 
this time, for I regard him as the most eloquent divine iw 
Great Britain." I heard him during that visit, and was not dis- 
appointed. But for Dean Stanley's well-known freedom from 
denominational bias in his estimate of men, I might have beent 
surprised at his eulogium on a Presbyterian divine. I asked 
him whom he regarded as the most eloquent preacher in the- 
Church of England. Without a moment's hesitation, he an- 
swered, "Dr. Magee, Bishop of Peterborough." 

I also had the opportunity of hearing Maurice, Liddon, Far- 
rar, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Tait; and of the 
Presbyterian Church, Cumming, Candlish, and James Hamil- 
ton, of Regent Square, and A. H. K. Boyd, author of Recrea- 
tions and Graver Hours of a Country Parson. 



49° 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



During my visits abroad, covering a period of thirty years, I 
often heard Spurgeon, and always with the greatest delight, and 
once the fervid and eloquent Punshon, of the Wesleyan Church. 

I have now enumerated the most eminent teachers in what I 
tried to make my theological school in the Old World, most of 
whom have entered on their eternal rest and reward. 

I have never been in any city where the average standard of 
ministerial merit was higher than in Richmond, and never one 
where pastors and people lived and labored together in more 
delightful harmony. 

This church, I am grateful to say, has been a sort of religious 
exchange for nearly half a century. At our afternoon meet- 
ings, especially, all denominations have met and mingled. The 
ever-increasing manifestations of regard on the part of my min- 
isterial brethren to me is a source of the purest happiness ; and 
yet had I purchased it by the sacrifice, or even the compromise 
of any truth of revelation, whether of doctrine, church govern- 
ment, or modes of worship, I would have purchased it at a cost 
which would have made me bankrupt forever. "Whether it be 
right in the sight of God" must ever be the minister's great 
inquiry. Whatever may be the fluctuations of public opinion, 
whatever the clamoring voice of the people, whatever the revo- 
lutions in creeds and theories of inspiration, the minister must 
listen to one voice alone as finally authoritative. When the sea 
is agitated with storms the waves make a great tumult; but 
when the voice of thunder comes rolling across the storm, then 
all the din of the waters is hushed by that mightier voice, arid so 
when God speaks the response must ever be, " Speak, Lord, thy 
servant heareth." "It is thine to command ; it is mine to obey." 
But I have ever believed that the highest loyalty to truth and 
duty is consistent with the sweetest charity — the charity that is 
the crown and flower of all the graces. Conscience itself sees 
the truth more clearly in an atmosphere of love. At my forty- 
fifth anniversary the bishop of one of our Virginia dioceses was 
kind enough to say that the harmony between our churches was 
due in a measure to the afternoon services of this church, and 
that the influence of its pastor had helped to educate our people 
in the great principles of practical Christian unity. If I have 
contributed at all to this result, I am profoundly grateful to the 
great author of peace and lover of concord, and to His name be 
the praise. 

And now, my friends, this memorial service is ended. How 



Appendix. 



49 1 



■can I sufficiently express my gratitude to the thousands who 
have come to celebrate this golden wedding with such una- 
nimity and cordiality? I call it my golden wedding, because 
fifty years ago I was united in holy bonds with this church. I 
was then in the springtime of life, hopeful and expectant. It 
was a spring followed by a glowing summer. The summer has 
been succeeded by a golden autumn, enriched by the fruits of the 
divine favor, all the more precious because all unmerited. Since 
the first year of my betrothal to this church I have seen many 
and great changes — changes in the church, changes in the city, 
changes in the country, and in the world; but there is one 
change which I never saw — I have seen no change in the 
abounding love and care of One who is "the same yesterday, 
to-day and forever." I stand here to testify, as I never could so 
gratefully before, that amidst all the vicissitudes of mortal life, 
"His loving kindness changes not !" 

And now, in the possession of a common faith in one Lord, 
and in the hope of one heaven of harmony and love, let us 
ascribe to Him, as is most due, all honor and blessing and glory 
^evermore. Amen. 



VII. 
PRAYERS. 

At the Memorial Mass-meeting in the Capitol Square- 
After the "Capitol Disaster/' April 29, 1870. 

With lowly reverence of spirit, and hearts filled with sadness 
and awe, we come into Thy presence, O God, most high and 
holy. We come to humble ourselves under Thy mighty hand ;. 
to acknowledge that clouds and darkness surround Thee ; that 
we cannot measure the depths of Thy infinite decrees, or fathom 
the wisdom of Thy inscrutable providences. 

Enable us then to feel our helplessness, our ignorance, our 
frailty. When we cannot explain the reasons of Thy dispensa- 
tions, may we be silent ; when we cannot comprehend, may we 
adore ! 

Once more, O Lord, the solemn voice of Thy providence unites 
with the voice of Thy word to admonish us of the transitory 
nature of all earthly good. In the sudden and crushing calam- 
ity which has visited us Thou hast sent bereavement not only 
upon many households, but upon this whole community — upon- 
our entire commonwealth; and while Thou art teaching us so 
impressively that here nothing is secure, nothing permanent, 
help us, we beseech Thee, to look away from earth, with its un- 
substantial and dissolving scenes, to the world whose joy fades- 
not, whose treasures perish not, and whose inhabitants, freed 
from sorrow and pain, enjoy a repose which is unbroken and 
eternal. 

In Thee, O merciful Father, all the fountains of consolation 
are to be found. Thou canst help when all other resources fail,, 
and therefore we come to Thee, bearing in the arms of our faith 
and love and Christian sympathy those who have been so sorely 
smitten and afflicted by this calamity. 

Lord, look in pity upon those over whose homes the shadow 
of death has swept, and whose hearts, because of fresh bereave- 
ment, are like open graves ; and as angels of old descended intx> 



Appendix. 



493 



the empty sepulchre, so may the angels of mercy and consola- 
tion come into these yearning hearts, filling them with heaven's 
•own peace. 

Behold, O God, in all the plentitude of thy compassion, be- 
reaved parents and heart-broken wives, and mourning children, 
and desolate relatives and friends, and magnify the riches of 
Thy grace in imparting to them consolation equal to the great- 
ness of their grief, in manifesting Thyself to them as their very 
present help in time of trouble, and as their tender and pitying 
Father, chastising not in anger, but in love. 

And while we pray for those who weep over the dead, we 
remember those who weep around the couches of the living, 
now lying wounded and bruised, while those who love them, 
with speechless solicitude, await the issue. Lord, we beseech 
Thee, add not to the long catalogue of the bereaved — spare 
useful lives; raise up those who are bowed down; bless the 
remedies used for their restoration, and grant that in the land 
of the living they may long walk before the Lord, praising and 
glorifying him. 

Our Father, in the midst of our griefs and tears, we bless Thee 
for the many drops of mercy mingled in our bitter cup. We 
thank Thee for the escape of so many who were exposed to a 
common danger and death. 

How adorable in many individual instances were Thy inter- 
positions. May all those thus wonderfully rescued acknowledge 
thy providential hand in their deliverance, and feel the infinite 
propriety which evermore must constrain them to devote their 
spared lives to God, the kind preserver, and to devote all their 
days to His service and glory ! 

And now we beseech thee, O God, may the solemn lessons of 
this providence be deeply impressed upon the minds and hearts 
of our whole people, especially during this week, which is yet 
to witness so many scenes of sadness as mourners go through 
our streets following one, and another, and another of the loved 
and lost to the place appointed for all the living ! 

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom ; teach us to live not only in expectation of death, 
but in preparation for it, so that whether the silver cord be sud- 
denly loosened and the golden bowl unexpectedly broken, or 
whether our change shall come with long premonition, it may 
find us prepared, with our peace made with God, in perfect 
charity with all mankind, with our souls safe in the hands of 



494 Moses Drury Hoge. 

their Redeemer and ready to enter upon eternal life and bless- 
ings. 

And unto God, most high, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will, 
we give the glory evermore. Amen. 



At the Re-interment of Confederate Soldiers in Holly- 
wood, May 29, 1873. 

O God, who liveth and reigneth evermore, and with whom 
do live and reign in glory the spirits of all those who have de- 
parted in the faith — in the midst of the grief which oppresses 
us, we bless Thee that we are permitted to perform the tender 
and solemn offices of this hour. 

We thank Thee that we have been permitted to bring back 
from their graves among strangers all that is mortal of our sons 
and brothers, and that we have now laid them down on the 
bosom of their Mother, to be enfolded in her embrace, and there 
to find their desired rest. 

We thank Thee that, surrounded by their former comrades in 
arms, they now sleep where those who loved them while living, 
and who will cherish their memories evermore, can come to 
weep over their graves, and to scatter the flowers which speak 
of the resurrection of the just and of the land where eternal 
summer reigns. 

O God, merciful and gracious ! in the plentitude of Thy pity 
remember and comfort those whose grief is awakened afresh by 
this sad scene, and may mourning parents and bereaved wives 
and sorrowing sisters and children made orphans all find in 
thee their strength, support and consolation. In this conse- 
crated place may memory come to embalm the names of the 
departed, and love to bedew the turf which wraps their clay 
with her fondest tears, and may hope, animated by noble ex- 
ample, here derive inspiration to new sacrifice for liberty and 
right, and be enabled to anticipate the day when freedom 
founded on justice, and when religion pure and undefiled, shall 
make our own land happy and fill the world with peace ! 

Bless, we beseech Thee, the officers and men who survive the 
conflicts in which their comrades fell, and deeply engrave upon 
the hearts of these young soldiers, and of all the young men of 
our commonwealth, the remembrance of the patriotic valor, the 



Appendix. 



495 



loyalty to truth, to duty and to God which characterized the 
heroes around whose remains we weep, and who surrendered 
only to the last enemy — Death. 

Almighty and everlasting God, giver of all good, grant us, we 
entreat Thee, Thy benediction to the great multitude assembled 
here; and may all who now throng this silent and shadowy 
cemetery, where so many of our loved ones already repose, be 
prepared, by Thy grace, for the time when they shall pass over 
the river and rest under the shade of the trees. Through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 



At the Unveiling of the Soldiers and Sailors' Monu- 
ment, Libby Hill, May 30, 1894. 

Almighty God, we inaugurate this impressive service with 
the reverential and adoring homage which we pay to Thee, the 
greatest and best of beings, the high and mighty Ruler of the 
universe, God over all, blessed for evermore. 

From this hushed and silent throng may there arise, as from 
one heart, the devout, acknowledgment of our dependence on 
Thee for all that exalts and ennobles life ; for all that can give 
sacredness to this solemnity ; for all that can fill the future with 
glad and grateful recollections of this day, consecrated to all 
that can give inspiration to the purest and sublimest patriotism. 

We come to thank God for the illustrious commanders, whose 
knightly valor and supreme devotion to duty won for them un- 
fading renown. We come to crown with the same laurels the 
patriotic private in the ranks, to whose splendid courage our 
great leaders ascribed, unto God, all their success, and without 
whose heroic aid no commander could have won the place as- 
signed to him in the Pantheon of our Confederate glory. 

They lie in lowly graves and the cause to which they gave 
their lives is lost, but above their dust uprises this enduring 
column to testify that their memories are not lost, and high 
above these lofty hills it towers to tell to coming ages our love 
for the private soldier, who fell in defence of constitutional lib- 
erty on the land, and for the gallant sailor who fringed his 
country's flag with glory on the sea! 

We rear this shaft of stone ; w r e unroll the historic page ; each 
shall be the guardian of our Confederate story. We print it on 



496 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



the page, we carve it on the column in letters imperishable and 
luminous evermore. 

Great God, author of peace and lover of concord, we would 
rear no monument to perpetuate resentment, or unavailing re- 
gret, or fraternal discord, but we would proclaim to the world 
that only as we maintain inviolate the rights of the States can we 
perpetuate an indestructible union of the States — a union 
founded on justice, constitutional law, and fraternal affection. 

O Thou, who art full of pity for the bereaved, remember us 
in our freshly awakened sorrow, as we pay this last sad tribute 
to our sons who left our homes to return no more, and who died 
in defence of all that was to them most dear, committing their 
souls to God, and their memories to us, who survive them. 
God helping us, we will be faithful to the sacred trust, we will 
enshrine them anew in our hearts, we will celebrate their deeds 
in sweetest song as long as the winds blow and waters flow, as 
long as virtue and valor enkindle admiration in all magnanimous 
souls. 

O Thou, who hast taught us to rejoice with those who rejoice 
and to weep with those who weep, our commonwealth erects 
this monument, not for herself alone, but for all her sister States, 
whose gallant sons together locked their shields and together 
fell on the bloody front of battle. Beneath the same soil their 
commingled ashes rest; beneath the same sky, bending over 
them like the hollow of Thy guardian hand, they repose. With 
a veneration too high for words, with a tenderness too deep 
for tears, we consecrate this pillar to our unending love, and to 
their eternal fame. 

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting to ever- 
lasting. Blessed be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 
And let all the people say, Amen. 



At the Re-interment of President Davis, May 30, 1893. 

O God, most high, most holy, most merciful, with lowly rev- 
erence of spirit and with hearts subdued by the hallowed mem- 
ories of the past and the tender offices of the hour, we invoke 
Thy gracious presence and benediction. 

Hear our prayer, O Lord ; give ear unto our cry. Hold not 
Thy peace at our tears, for we are strangers with Thee and so- 
journers, as all our fathers were. 



Appendix. 



497 



Beneath these quiet skies, which bend over us as the hollow 
of Thy sheltering hand, we gather in this consecrated place. 
Around us rest all that is mortal of patriot sages and soldiers, 
whose virtue and valor gave lustre to our historic annals, and 
who at the call of duty, having consecrated themselves to the 
toils allotted to them, died, committing their souls to God and 
their memories to us who survive them. By Thy help, Lord God 
of truth and justice, we will be faithful to our trust. We will 
perpetuate the story of all who, by disinterested service and 
heroic sacrifice, struggled to maintain the empire of principle in 
the world, and who, with honor stainless and conscience in- 
violate, fulfilled their task. Now numbered among the im- 
mortal dead, they still live, enshrined in the souls of those 
who love them all the more for what they suffered and who 
cherish their memories with undying devotion. 

Almighty God, if in Thine overruling providence this should 
be the last scene in the uncompleted drama of our Confederate 
history — so replete with mournful yet ineffable glory — may 
the curtain fall amid the tears of men too brave ever to murmur 
and too loyal to the memories of the past ever to forget ! 

Accept our thanks, gracious Father, that we have accom- 
plished the sacred office of giving to our beloved and honored 
chief his appropriate resting place among those who shared 
w r ith him the joys of victory and the sadness of defeat and who 
followed the banner, now forever furled, with a fortitude which 
no reverse could shake and which no disaster could daunt. 

Here, on this imperial hill, we have laid him down beside the 
river whose waters sing their perpetual requiem, and amid the 
flowers which speak of the resurrection of the just and of the 
land where death never withers the affections, which bloom in 
beauty and fragrance evermore. 

We look up from the open grave to the open heavens, where 
Thou dost live and reign, and where all who have died in the 
true faith do live and reign with Thee in glory everlasting. 

In this, the hour of their freshly awakened sorrow, O Father, 
most tender and loving, in the plentitude of Thy compassion, 
remember and comfort Thine handmaiden and all dear to her. 
Thou husband of the widow and father of the fatherless, be 
Thou their strength, their song, and their salvation. 

Lord God of hosts, we beseech Thee to sustain and cheer the 
veteran survivors of the war, while, with ever-diminishing num- 
bers, and ever-increasing burdens of age and infirmity, they 
await their final discharge and final recompense. 



498 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Almighty God, author of peace and lover of concord, now 
that the sorrows and desolations of war have been for so many 
years exchanged for the blessings of peace, may all animosities 
be buried in the grave, and may all the inhabitants of this great 
land, from North to South, and from East to West, learn more 
and more to cherish the relations which unite them as children 
of one Father and as citizens of one country ! May mutual re- 
gard for each other's interests, happiness and rights become the 
noble law of national life! May freedom founded on justice 
and guarded by constitutional law, with religion pure and un- 
dented, secure to our whole people a perpetual heritage of 
unity, prosperity and peace, and to God, most high, will we give 
all honor and glory evermore. Amen. 



At the Dedication of the Confederate Museum, February 

22, 1896. 

Almighty God, Thou livest and reignest for evermore, and 
with Thee do live the souls of all who, having consecrated their 
lives to Thy service, died in the true faith, committing their 
spirits to Thy hands and their memories to our hearts. By Thy 
help we will be faithful to the sacred trust. We will perpetuate 
the story of their virtue, valor and piety as a precious legacy to 
all succeeding generations. We gather here to-day with hearts 
subdued by the tender recollections of the past, and with devout 
gratitude for the mercies of the present hour. We recognize 
Thy kindness in permitting the noble women of our Southland 
to renovate and beautify this building, which we dedicate with 
these impressive ceremonies to all the sorrow-shrouded glories 
of our departed Confederacy. 

We come on this day, hallowed as the birthday of the Father 
of his Country, and by the inauguration of the chieftain who, 
being dead, yet lives in the hearts of those who followed the 
banner now forever furled. We dedicate this mansion as the 
shrine to which all right-minded and right-hearted men will 
gather from every State and from every land to pay their hom- 
age to exalted worth ; the shrine which will be hallowed by men 
who are bound to us by no tie save that which admiration for 
such worth establishes between all magnanimous souls; the 
tie which will never be sundered while the great heart of hu- 



Appendix. 



499 



inanity throbs in sympathy with heroic endeavor, and most of 
all when heroic endeavor is overwhelmed by defeat. Here we 
would preserve the relics and the records of a struggle never 
more to be repeated, and never to be forgotten. 

Our Father, we cannot forget the fiery trials, the disasters, 
and desolations which in years gone by caused us such humilia- 
tion and bitter tears ; but we gratefully remember, too, the for- 
titude, the courage, the unfaltering trust in Thee which charac- 
terized our people in their time of peril and bereavement ; and 
now, turning from the strifes and sorrows of the past, we reso- 
lutely face the future, beseeching Thee to grant us grace and 
wisdom to make that future prosperous and happy — an era of 
progress in all that enriches and ennobles a people whose God 
is the Lord. 

And now, our Father, amidst the festivities of this hour, we 
beseech Thee deeply to impress upon our hearts the great truth 
that all the temporal honors and glories of earth are worthless 
in comparison with the honor which thou dost confer on those 
who are loyal to Thee, and who seek the eternal glory to which 
thou hast taught us to aspire. 

AYe devoutly thank Thee that the piety of the great leaders of 
our armies was the flower and crown of all their virtues, and 
nothing now fills us with a satisfaction so pure and with a grati- 
tude so profound as the remembrance of their consecration to 
Thee and their supreme devotion to Thy service. 

May these great lessons be impressed anew upon our minds 
and hearts by Thine honored servant, who comes to address us 
to-day, and may it please Thee to hasten the coming of the 
time when all the inhabitants of this great land may be brought 
more and more to cherish the relations which unite them as 
children of one Father, and as citizens of one country, and when 
freedom, founded on constitutional law, and religion, pure and 
undefiled, shall make our whole land happy and fill the whole 
world with peace ; and to God, most high, will we ascribe all 
honor and glory forever. Amen. 



Memorial Day, Hollywood, May 30, 1898. 

[The last of his ?n any prayers on Memorial Day.} 

Almighty God, we would consecrate this memorial service 
with the reverential and adoring homage which we render to 



5°° 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Thee, the greatest and the best of beings, the high and mighty 
Ruler of the universe, God over all, blessed for evermore. 

Since last we met in this hallowed place we recognize the 
change which, in Thy mysterious providence, has come to our 
commonwealth and common country. A year ago we gathered 
here in the tranquillity and quietude of a long peace; now we 
meet amidst war's alarms, and as we once more part with sons, 
and brothers, we are reminded of the sad separations of long 
years ago ; separations from so many dear to us, who departed 
to return no more ; separations from those who fell in the de- 
fence of kindred and home and all that made life desirable and 
happy. They died committing their souls to thee and their 
memories to us who survive them. By thy help, Lord God of 
truth and justice, we will be faithful to the trust; we will per- 
petuate the history of their deeds in story and in song ; we will 
return with each revolving year to deck the green tents of turf 
beneath which they lie with flowers which remind us of the un- 
fading verdure of the paradise of God; we will come to em- 
balm their memories in our hearts with a veneration too high 
for words and with a tenderness too deep for tears. 

Once more we make this memorial service the pledge of our 
undying love for those who sacrificed all for us, and though the 
cause for which they contended is lost, we leave to impartial 
time the vindication of their principles and the perpetuation of 
their fame. 

And now, Lord God of hosts, remember, we beseech Thee, 
the young men who are filling our camps all over the land, and 
the sailors who are fringing our flag with glory on the sea. 

Give victory to the right, and hasten, we beseech Thee, the re- 
turn of peace and the restoration of prosperity in every part of 
our country, from North to South, and from East to West. 

We invoke Thy blessing on the association to whose pious 
care the graves of our sons and brothers are entrusted, and we 
give Thee thanks for all they have accomplished in protecting 
and beautifying the place where they rest in peace. 

May Thy servant, the honored Governor of this common- 
wealth, who comes to speak to us, so speak as to kindle afresh 
in our souls true love and loyalty to truth, to duty, to our coun- 
try, and our God ; and as the blessings we implore descend upon 
us, we will ascribe all the glory to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost- 
Amen. 



Appendix. 



5oi 



On Opening the State Democratic Convention, 1889. 

The earth is Thine, O Lord, and the fulness thereof; the 
world and they that dwell therein. Thou hast created all things 
and carest for all that Thou hast created. Thou rulest all things 
and rulest all things well, for Thy kingdom, founded on wis- 
dom, justice, and righteousness, is an everlasting kingdom, and 
Thy dominion endureth through all generations. 

We therefore worship Thee, we adore Thee, we glorify Thee 
as God over all blessed for evermore. 

Without Thee nothing is safe, nothing strong, nothing 'en- 
during. Conscious of our entire dependence on Thee for all 
that makes councils wise and conduct right, we feel it to be our 
first duty as well as our highest privilege to unite our hearts in 
prayer for Thy gracious aid and blessing. 

At this memorable hour in the history of our commonwealth, 
when all patriotic men are earnestly asking how social and do- 
mestic order may be maintained, and public tranquillity secured, 
and Christian civilization perpetuated, we turn to Thee for light 
and guidance. We recognize Thy goodness in permitting Thy 
servants to assemble here for the discharge of the high duties 
intrusted to them. May they enter upon the consideration of 
the great questions which are to occupy them with minds free 
from prejudice and passion, animated only by the desire to 
know what is true and to do what is right. May wisdom, har- 
mony and supreme devotion to duty characterize all their de- 
liberations, and may Heaven's blessings so crown their labors 
as to secure and advance the true and permanent interests of 
the people here represented. 

Almighty God, let Thy benediction ever abide on our beloved 
commonwealth; upon its Governor, judges and magistrates; 
upon its schools, colleges and universities ; upon all its indus- 
trial pursuits ; upon its agricultural, mechanical and commer- 
cial enterprises ; upon every effort that can be devised for the 
promotion of the public good, that our cities, villages and coun- 
try homes may all be filled with a people virtuous and happy, 
prosperous and free. 

Bind together, we beseech Thee, in one great fraternal union 
all the States of this republic, and may the inhabitants of this 
whole land be brought more and more to cherish the relations 
which unite them as children of a common Father, and as 
citizens of a common country, and to God, most high, will we 
ascribe all honor and glory forever. Amen. 



502 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



On Opening the Session of the House of Delegates, De- 
cember 4, 1 89 1. 

[One of many forms.~\ 

Almighty God, we humbly adore Thee as the King eternal, 
immortal, invisible, God over all, blessed for evermore. We- 
worship Thee as the God of our fathers and as our God. Thou 
hast bestowed on us all the faculties by which we may know 
Thee, and by which we are enabled to serve our fellow-men.. 
May we regard all our endowments as so many trusts for which 
Thou wilt hold us accountable, and may all be consecrated to- 
Thy service and to the great ends for which thou hast bestowed 
them. Make us faithful in the discharge of every duty ; fearless 
in meeting every responsibility. May we walk humbly and rev- 
erently and obediently before Thee, and kindly and courteously 
and charitably toward all our fellow-men, and so speak and act 
as to maintain a conscience void of offence toward God and man. 

Guide and animate Thy servants in all the duties of this day, 
and of all the days on which they shall assemble for the consid- 
eration of the great interests entrusted to them. 

May peace and plenty and prosperity prevail through all our 
borders, and may the blessing of laws wisely framed and justly 
executed give order and stability to our government! 

Let Thy benediction rest upon our whole land throughout its 
vast expanse, from North to South, from East to West. Lend 
Thy powerful aid to all who are honestly and earnestly striving 
to vindicate the truth, to maintain the right, and to establish 
justice; to all whose supreme aim is to perpetuate the institu- 
tions which give support to the liberties, the rights and the 
happiness of the people. 

Draw all the inhabitants of this great land nearer to Thee as 
children of a common Father, and nearer to one another as citi- 
zens of a common country, and to God, most high, most holy,, 
will we ascribe the honor and glory for evermore. Amen. 



At the Inauguration of Governor J. Hoge Tyler, January" 

1, 1898. 

Almighty God, fountain of being and of all blessedness, giver 
of life and all that makes life desirable and happy, accept our 
humble homage. To Thee we owe all allegiance, love and ser- 



Appendix. 



503 



vice, and every tribute of thanksgiving and praise we can render 
Thee at this memorable hour. 

We worship Thee as the God of our fathers, mindful of Thy 
goodness in bringing them to this land, here to enjoy the bless- 
ings of civil and religious liberty ; here to lay the foundation of 
just, and equitable government, from which we have derived 
our prosperity, happiness and power as a people. We give Thee 
thanks that Thou hast made this ancient commonwealth the 
mother of the men whose wisdom and patriotism, whose virtue 
and valor have been illustrated in the halls of legislation and on 
a thousand fields of conflict. 

Beneath the shadow of this Capitol we behold the stately 
monuments of the patriots, sages and soldiers whose names are 
among the brightest and purest in human history, and whose 
memories are the common inheritance not only of the citizens 
of our own commonwealth, but of all whose hearts beat in sym- 
pathy with exalted worth and unselfish devotion to freedom, 
truth and justice throughout this great land from North to 
South and from East to West. 

And now, at this auspicious hour, in this new era in the his- 
tory of our commonwealth, we offer our fervent prayers in 
behalf of Thy servant this day invested with the office which has 
been adorned by the long line of illustrious predecessors who 
have bequeathed to him the instructive experience of their suc- 
cessive administrations. 

May the God who guided and animated them in the discharge 
of their high duties be his God and sure defence, preserving his 
health and life and crowning that life with loving-kindness and 
tender mercies, and enabling him so to fulfil every obligation as 
to make his term of service one of personal honor and public 
advantage. 

Remember also, we beseech Thee, Thy servant who to-day 
resigns the trusts he has guarded so fearlessly and well. May 
Heaven's richest blessing rest on him, upon his family, and upon 
every effort and enterprise that can make his future career 
prosperous and happy ! 

May Thy blessing abide upon our Lieutenant-Governor ; upon 
the Senate over which he is to preside ; upon the House of Dele- 
gates ; upon all the officers of our State government and upon 
all our people, that order and harmony, prosperity and peace 
may prevail throughout all our borders, and to God, most high, 
will we ascribe, as is most due, all honor and glory evermore. 
Amen. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



On the Opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 
Greeting the Arrival of the First Through Freight 
from the Ohio to the James, February 13, 1873. 

The earth is Thine, O Lord, and the fulness thereof, the world 
and they that dwell therein. Thy throne is in the heavens, but 
Thy kingdom ruleth over all. Thou art high and lifted up, but 
not elevated above regard for Thy creatures. 

We bless Thee for Thy kindness to the children of men, to 
whom Thou hast given the earth for a heritage, and filled it with 
innumerable provisions adapted to their comfort and well-being. 
We bless Thee for all those processes, providential and gracious, 
by which Thou art drawing mankind nearer to Thee, and nearer 
to each other in the bonds of sympathy and love. 

We give Thee thanks for the gospel of Thy dear Son, for the 
institution of civil government, for social and domestic order, 
for all those useful arts and works of genius, industry and skill, 
by which the people of this great land are brought into inter- 
course with each other and made to feel their mutual dependence 
and relationship as children of a common Father and citizens 
of a common country, and to cherish those kindly feelings and 
strengthen those fraternal ties which make it good and pleasant 
to dwell together as brethren in unity. 

And now that thou hast permitted us to meet in joyful cele- 
bration of the completion of this great work, which marks a 
new era in the history of our city and commonwealth, we render 
to Thee, as is most due, our humble and grateful thanks. While 
we give honor to those who have planned and executed it, we 
magnify Thy goodness, O Lord, who hast crowned their ardu- 
ous labors with success ; and we invoke Thy blessing to rest 
upon the work of their hands. May it give development to those 
rich resources with which Thou hast filled the hills and valleys 
of our land. May it give birth to new industries, to new hopes, 
to new prosperity, to new gratitude to the Giver of all good ! 

Bless, we beseech thee, the President of the United States, 
and the Houses of Congress. Let Thy benediction rest on the 
Governor of this commonwealth; upon its judges, legislators 
and magistrates ; upon the mayor, and council, and public 
officers of this city ; upon our clergy, churches, colleges, schools 
and benevolent societies ; upon this regiment, filled with young 
men dear to so many hearts ; upon the strangers who come to us 



Appendix. 



505 



from other States, to whom we give the welcome of friends ; 
upon all associations representing those industrial pursuits and 
mechanical arts upon which our prosperity so much depends; 
and, finally, we beseech Thee ever look with Thy merciful favor 
upon our entire country throughout its vast expanse, from 
North to South and from East to West, and grant that it may 
everywhere be pervaded by that celestial influence which purifies 
all that it penetrates, and gives immortality to all that it ani- 
mates ; and unto God, most high, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
will we ascribe all honor and glory forever. Amen. 



.At the Dedication of the Chamber of Commerce Build- 
ing, December 28, 1893. 

Almighty God, with humble reverence we come to worship 
Thee with tender and grateful memories of Thy goodness to our 
fathers, and to our people in generations past and gone. We 
come to adore Thee for the blessings of the present hour, and to 
implore the continuance of Thy gracious favor in all the days 
that are to come. 

It has pleased Thee to honor the city in which we dwell from 
its earliest history, in making it the home of men whose private 
virtues and public services have given lustre, not only to the 
community, but to the commonwealth, and while we cherish 
their memories with true affection, we pray that we may have 
grace to walk in their footsteps, and so to emulate their exam- 
ples as to maintain and transmit the principles bequeathed to 
us as a precious legacy to those who shall succeed us when our 
work on earth is ended. 

We recognize Thy kindness in permitting us to complete the 
edifice in which we now offer our grateful homage, and which 
we now dedicate to Thee as the home of all noble enterprise, of 
justice, order, honor, truth and charity. 

Conscious of our entire dependence on Thee for all that makes 
counsels wise and conduct right, we invoke Thy powerful aid 
in enabling us to manage all the interests of this association, so 
as to secure the great ends for which it was organized. Give 
success, we beseech thee, to every industrial pursuit, and to 
-every philanthropic purpose by which the prosperity of our city 
.may be advanced and perpetuated. Fill us with a deep sense of 



5°6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



our responsibility for every trust committed to us, and above 
all to the God to whom we owe all allegiance, all love and ser- 
vice. May we remember that nothing which is morally wrong 
can be commercially right, and may integrity and uprightness 
be the noble law of all our aims and endeavors. 

Bless, we beseech Thee, the officers and members of this 
Chamber. Give unity and wisdom to their counsels ; may de- 
votion to the common welfare expel all personal and selfish 
aims and inspire such mutual confidence that all the resources 
at our command may be combined in one united effort for the 
highest and most lasting good of the whole community; and 
while we enjoy the benefits and the blessings which flow from 
such supreme devotion to duty, we will ascribe all honor and 
glory to God, most high, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 



At the Dedication of the New City Hall, February, 16, 

1894. 

Almighty God, with devout gratitude we adore Thy good 
providence over our city from the beginning of its history to 
this hour of happy greeting and congratulation on the comple- 
tion of our arduous work. Thou hast heard and answered the 
prayers which ascended at the laying of the corner-stone, and 
hast preserved from fatal harm and hurt those who were em- 
ployed in its erection; and now may it please Thee to protect 
it from every destructive element, and long may these walls 
stand to guard our municipal interests and to give stability to 
public order. We recognize in the arrangement of its halls and 
chambers, from foundation to capstone, its adaptation to the 
official use and comfort of those who are to occupy it, thus 
securing the attainment of all the important ends for which it 
was designed. We thank Thee for the transition from the dis- 
mal and squalid quarters, hitherto occupied, to the light, and air, 
and amplitude of this spacious structure — at once massive and 
strong, convenient and beautiful. 

Thou hast surrounded it with a cloud of witnesses. From its 
summit we look down upon the Capitol, within whose walls once 
gathered the patriots and sages who laid the foundations of our 
constitutional liberty and independence. We behold the monu- 
ment of the man whose name is yet the brightest and best in 



Appendix. 



507 



American annals, while around him stand the heroic forms 
which make their silent and salutary, but stirring appeal to all 
patriotic souls. Near by we see the statue of the Christian 
soldier who stood as a stone wall on the bloody front of battle, 
and who surrendered only to death a soul consecrated to duty 
and to God. 

From the same summit we overlook the city which has passed 
through such fiery trials and unparalleled disasters, and yet all 
borne with a fortitude which no reverses could daunt, and with 
a determination which no calamities could discourage. 

And now, our Father, we hail the dawn of a new day. At this 
auspicious hour we come to rejoice, not only over the comple- 
tion of a noble building, but to inaugurate a new era in the 
history of our city. 

We face the future, not with presumption, but with reverent 
trust in God. With memories and hopes like these, we now 
dedicate this hall to official industry, integrity and honor; we 
dedicate it to enterprise, progress and prosperity, under Thy 
favor, guidance and protection, O God, most high, most holy, 
most merciful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. 



At the Commencement of the University College of 
Medicine, May 26, 1898. 

Almighty God, we humbly adore Thee as the fountain of all 
being and blessedness. Thou hast created all things and Thou 
carest for all that Thou hast created. Thou rulest all things, and 
Thy laws are holy, just and good. We bless Thee for the rich 
provision Thou hast made in the gospel of Thy grace for the 
pardon of sin and for the healing of all the maladies which sin 
has inflicted on the souls of men. We thank Thee, too, for all 
the subordinate agencies Thou hast provided for the relief of 
suffering and for the preservation of life and health, in filling 
every department of nature with antidotes to disease and pain. 
We recognize Thy goodness in raising up and qualifying an 
order of men whose duty and delight it is to administer these 
remedies, and for the establishment of institutions for the train- 
ing of those who go forth from year to year in this ministry of 
mercy to those who need help and healing. 
• We invoke Thy rich blessing on the institution whose anni- 



5 o8 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



versary we celebrate to-night. Make it a fountain of great and 
permanent good to this city, to the community and to our com- 
mon country. Prepare the young men who resort to it for the 
life that lies before them by the strength that comes from truth 
and honor and stainless integrity. At the close of each session 
send forth those who shall be richly qualified for their noble 
profession by sound learning and supreme devotion to duty. 
Grant Thy special guidance and benediction to the graduating 
class. Give them success wherever their lot may be cast, and 
may their future career be one of such distinguished usefulness 
as to reflect credit on the founders, the patrons and the pro- 
fessors of this institution. 

We remember one who is absent from us to-night. Do Thou 
be pleased to remember him — the president of this University 
College. 1 Restore him to health and strength again, and may he 
be long spared to be a blessing to our commonwealth and entire 
country. 

Grant us Thy gracious guidance in all the exercises of this 
liour, and make it a happy and memorable hour because of thy 
favor and blessing ; and to God, most high, will we ascribe all 
honor and glory, evermore. Amen. 



At the Administration of the Bread at the Last Joint 
Communion Service of the Presbyterian Churches of 
Richmond During His Life, January 2, 1898. 

O Father of mercies and God of quickening, renewing, com- 
forting, sanctifying grace, who, upon man's transgressing Thy 
commandment, didst not leave him to the sad consequences of 
his apostasy, but as a Father, tender and loving, didst visit him 
in compassion, opening to him the door of faith and repentance, 
and in the fulness of time sending Thine own Son in the like- 
ness of sinful flesh, by the obedience of His life to satisfy the 
law's demands, and by the sacrifice of Himself to take away the 
law's curse, and by His death on the cross to redeem the world ; 
O Thou who doest all things to bring us again to Thee, that we 
may be partakers of the divine nature and eternal glory, blessed 
l)e Thy name in every mention and in every memorial of it. O 
Son of God — Son of Man — Thou art worthy to take the book 

1 Dr. McGuire, who was sick at the White Sulphur Springs. 



Appendix. 



and open the seals thereof, for Thou hast redeemed us by Thy 
blood, and Thou art worthy to receive power and riches, and 
strength and honor, and glory and blessing, now and evermore. 

We are not worthy to come under Thy roof or to eat the 
crumbs which fall from Thy table, but Thou hast brought us 
into Thy banqueting house. O let Thy banner over us be love ! 

Thou didst become the Son of man that we might become the 
sons of God. Give us, we beseech Thee, the assurance of our 
adoption, and give us the evidence of it by the witness of the 
Spirit in our hearts, and by enabling us to live for Him who died 
for us. Wash us from our sins and we shall be whiter than 
snow. Restore unto Us the joy of Thy salvation and uphold us 
with Thy free spirit. 

Blessed Lord, by this holy ordinance Thou art coming to us 
as Thou didst to Thy disciples when Thou didst show them Thy 
wounded hands and Thy feet pierced with the nails — the hands 
that were ever laden with benediction, the feet that bore Thee 
wearily as Thou didst go about healing the sick and comforting 
the sorrowing and pardoning the penitent. 

With Thy bleeding hand Thou art knocking at the door of our 
hearts. O make us deeply penitent for all our sins, and as we 
look upon Him whom our sins have pierced, may we mourn with 
godly sorrow, and in view of the broken body may we come 
with broken and contrite hearts, such as Thou wilt not despise, 
and may Christ manifest Himself through these consecrated 
emblems until He becomes within us the hope of glory. 

Bless all who shall unite in the celebration of this holy ordi- 
nance; Thy ministering servants, the office-bearers in Thy 
church, and all Thy people. Bind us together in the bonds of 
Christian affection. Give us the blessing of brethren dwelling 
together in unity, as partakers of one bread, as sharers in one 
hope, as preparing to live together in one happy and eternal 
home. May ours be the communion of saints, that at last we 
may join the spirits of the just made perfect — the general as- 
sembly of the church of the firstborn in Thy kingdom above, 
where we shall celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb. Set 
apart to this holy use so much of these elements as shall be em- 
ployed in the administration of this sacrament, and set apart us 
to lives of new obedience and entire consecration; and to God, 
most high, Father, Son and Holy Ghost will we ascribe all 
honor and glory, evermore. Amen. 



INDEX. 



.Academy of Music ( N. Y.), sermons 
at 123, 124, 226. 

Agnew, D. Hayes 315. 

Aldershot, review at 373. 

Alexander, Addison 225. 

Alexander, Archibald, visit to James 
Hoge 5 — influence of Moses Hoge 
on 6 — President Hampden-Sidney 
College 7 — Moses Hoge's last visit 
to 9 — preaching 132. 

Alexander, Henry C, letter on Wil- 
liam Hoge 223, 224— death 367. 

Alexander, Henry M. 226, 227. 

Alexander, James W. 103, 132, 206, 
225. 

Alliance of Reformed Churches, ori- 
gin 281 — debate on 281 — Edin- 
burgh Council 289 — London 325 — 
Glasgow 369. 

Ancestry, value of 17 — of Hoges 3 — 
of Lacys 15. 

Anderson, Samuel J. 21. 

Arbitration, international 348, 378. 

Assembly's Home and School 378, 
379- 

Athens, O., removal of S. D. Hoge 
to 26— boyhood of M. D. H. in 31, 
32— M. D. H. leaves 32— W. J. H. 
educated at 54 — professor in 108 — 
M. D. H. visits 128. 

Backus, John C, letter from 181. 

Baker, Judge 167. 

Ballard, Addison 108. 

Ballard, Mrs. Julia P., letter to ill. 

Ballentine, Elisha 27, 31. 

.Ballentine, Henry 31. 

Baltimore, call to 258 — summer 

preaching 355 — W. J. H. in 113. 
Barnett, E. H. 387. 
Baxter, Dr., described 63. 
Bayard, T. F., Dr. Hoge meets 244 — 

entertains Dr. Hoge 372 — letter 

from 377 — tribute to 387, 388. 
Belfast, preaching in 376. 
Benjamin, Judah P. 167 — letter from 

174 — English interest in 373. 
JBeresford-Hope, A. J. B., letter from 

M. D. H. to 271 — letter from 272 

— M. D. H. meets 291. 



Beth Ahaba, congregation 362. 

Bibles, destitution of in Conf. army 
168— letter of W. J. H. on 169— 
mission of M. D. H. to secure 171 
— grant of by B. and F. B. S. 175, 
485— grant of by A. B. S. 181— 
captured 195 — letters of Conf. 
generals about 196, 197. 

Bible Society, of Virginia 171, 348 — 
Confederate 172 — American 169, 
181— B. and F. 175, 485. 

Blockade running 172, 175, 192. 

Boston, blockade Bibles 195 — address 
in 328. 

Branch, Robert C. 41, 43. 

Broadus, J. A. 367 (see also oppo- 
site p. 1). 

Brookes, James H. 20, 258 — letter 
from 260 — death 369. 

Brooklyn, call to 124. 

Brown, William, buys Central Pres- 
byterian 118 — resides at Dr. Hoge's 
166 — letter of M. D. H. to 173— 
ecclesiastical influence 246 — dele- 
gate to Edinburgh Council 289 — 
death 367. 

Brown, Mrs. Elizabeth H., useful- 
ness 166 — letter from 188— care of 
Dr. Hoge's house 301 — tribute to 
476. 

Bryan, Joseph, address of 359. 
Bryce, James 373. 
Buller, Gen. Sir Redvers 374. 
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness 373. 
Burton, Mrs. Agnes, letter to 255. 

Call to ministry 62. 

Calls for M. D. H., from country 
churches 72, 73, 74 — from Mobile 
73 — from Richmond 74, 76, 82 — 
from Brooklyn 123, 124 — from 
Washington 130 — to the presi- 
dency of Hampden-Sidney and 
Davidson Colleges 130 — from Lex- 
ington, St. Louis, Nashville, Mem- 
phis, Baltimore 258 — Philadelphia 
315. . 

Calvinism, Moncure Conway on 290 
—Dr. Hoge on 291, 371— creed and 
character 413. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Camp Lee 148, 153, 164, 385, 4§4- 

Carlyle, Thomas, Dr. Hoge meets 
179 — on religion 438. 

Carrington, Charles S. 52. 

Central Presbyterian, Moore and 
Hoge 118 — editorials commended 
138 — William Brown 118 — account 
of Dr. Hoge's mission 171 — Rich- 
ardson and Southall 52 — occa- 
sional editorials of Dr. Hoge 264 
— speech in synod on 349 — James 
P. Smith 389. 

Chamber of Commerce, dedication 
prayer 505. 

Charleston, S. C, blockade run from 
173. 

Chase, Chief Justice 242, 490. 

Chesapeake and Ohio, prayer at 
opening 504. 

Church courts, dignity 349 — report- 
ing 349- 

City Hall, dedication prayer 506. 
Clay, Henry 94. 

Colonization, African 137 — of 
churches 311. 

Colored race (see also slavery) evils 
of sudden enfranchisement 234, 
239 — problem of evangelization 
247 — Dr. Hoge's proposal 323. 

Confederacy, characteristics of 
struggle 146 — failing fortunes 230 
— downfall 232 — demoralization 
following 233. 

Confederate, soldiers 146, 457, 461 — 
memories 270, 445 — monuments 
458 — museum, dedication prayer 
498. 

Copenhagen, address at 318, 452. 
Connaught, Arthur, Duke of 374. 
Conway, Moncure D., letter of 290. 
Cook, James E. 314, 395. 
Cornell University 353. 
Cox, S. S. 198. 
Curry, J. L. M., address 338. 
Cushing, Jonathan 39, 41. 

Dabney, Robert L., class-mate of Dr. 
Hoge 52 — letter on secession 140 — 
address on New South 403 — West- 
minster celebration 380 — Dr. Hoge 
at grave of 380. 

Davidson College, elected president 
of 130. 

Davis, Jefferson, Dr. Hoge's ac- 
quaintance with 167, 463 — address 
on 353, 463 — prayer at interment 
of 352, 496. 



Dedication, of Second Church 101 — - 
hymn 101 — of churches by M. D. 
H. 244, 329, 386— prayers 493, 498^ 
505, 506. 

Delegates, prayer opening House of 
502. 

Democratic convention, prayer open- 
ing 501. 
Draper, John W. 41. 
Dreever, Mrs. Lizzie 301. 
Duelling 96. 

Edinburgh Council 289. 

Empie, Adam 92, 480. 

Europe, John Blair Hoge's travels in 
12— first visit of M. D. H. (1854) 
115 — compared with America 117, 
292 — second visit (i862-'3) 175 — • 
third (1877) 291— fourth (1878) 
292— fifth (to the East, 1880) 295 
—sixth (1884) 318— seventh (1888) 
325 — eighth unrecorded — ninth 
(1896) 369 — advantages of travel 
in 489. 

Evangelical Alliance, New York 
268— Copenhagen 318, 452 — Bos- 
ton 328. 

Evangelists, professional 311. 

Evidences of Christianity, University 
Lectures 103. 

Ewell, B. S., Prof. H. S. C. 42— at 
Seven Pines 157 — friendship of 
167 — death 367. 

Ewell, Richard S. 167 — letter from 
196. 

Family Religion, address on 452. 
Farrar, F. R., quoted 53, 74. 
Fasting and prayer, day of 230. 
Field, Henry M., letter of Dr. Hoge 

to 244, letter from 277. 
First Regiment Va. Volunteers 348, 

364. 

"Fraternal Relations," action of Sa- 
vannah Assembly 277 — of Brook- 
lyn Assembly 278 — Chicago 279. 

Garfield, Pres., assassination 315 — 
Dr. Hoge's address on 418— -ser- 
mon on death 315. 

General Assembly, Richmond (1847) 
97 — St. Louis 275 — Savannah 276 
— New Orleans 287 — Charlotte 
379- 

Ghiselin, Charles, quoted 297. 
Gilliad, John, letter from 180. 
Gilliam, M. M. 302. 



Index. 



513 



Gilliam (nee Hoge), Mrs. Mary R., 
birth 108 — care of brothers 251, 
302 — marriage 302 — at father's 
deathbed 393. 

Glasgow Council 369. 

Graham, Samuel L., M. D. H. joins 
church under 50 — Prof, in U. T. S. 
63. 

Greenleaf, Jonathan 66, 67. 

Greenleaf, John Parsons, friendship 
of M. D. H. 65— tragic death 66— 
cherished memory 66, 67, 68, 69, 
190, 236. 

Greenleaf, Mrs. Mary Parsons, 
quoted 35 — bereavement 66 — let- 
ters to 67, 68, 69, 71, 115, 123, 124, 
127, 128, 129, 175, 187, 190, 235, 
236, 237, 238, 239, 252, 254, 305, 
306, 329 — Mrs. Hoge to 193, 251— 
Miss Bessie Hoge to 251, 252. 

Gretter, Michael 85, 126. 

Grigsby, Hugh Blair, cited on origin 
of Lacys 15 — quoted on Drury 
Lacy 17 — on Elizabeth Lacy (Mrs. j 
Hoge) 23. 

Gurney, J., letters from 177, 183. 

Guthrie, Donald 382, 384, 395, 416. 

Haldane, Alex. 183. 

Hall, John, address at forty-fifth an- 
niversary 332 — tribute to 387. 

Hampden-Sidney College, founda- 
tion of 39— early presidents 39 — 
social and intellectual environment 
21 — M. D. H. on the value of 38— 
Moses Hoge president 7 — Drury 
Lacy vice-president 17 — Samuel D. 
Hoge graduates at 15 — professor 
in 25 — Moses Drury Hoge born at 
25 — graduates at 52 — tutor in 54 — 
early advertisement of 42 — ad- 
dress at 39, 294, 403 — trustee of 
348 — elected president of 130. 

Harrison, Dabney Carr 152, 153. 

Harrison Peyton, W. J. H. marries I 
daughter of 119 — on "Abolition" 
136— quoted 181. 

Harrison, Peyton R. 152, 209. 

Hastings, Fred., letter from 292. 

Havelock, General 375. 

Hawes, Elias 36. 

Hawes, Samuel P. 85. 

Hill, D. H., at Seven Pines 161 — on 
Jackson oration 274. 

Hodge, Charles, interview with 267. 

Hoge, origin of name 1, 2 — of family 
3- 



Hoge Academy 348. 

Hoge, Addison, see Hogue. 

Hoge, Alexander Lacy, born 125 — 
death of 187 — described 188. 

Hoge, Anne Lacy, see Marquess. 

Hoge (nee Hume), Mrs. Barbara 3. 

Hoge, Miss Bessie, born 83 — letter 
to 154 — sent North 234 — care of 
mother 251 — letters from 251, 252 
— becomes an invalid 302 — assist- 
ance to father 302 — restored thro' 
Dr. Agnew 315 — at forty-fifth an- 
niversary 332. 

Hoge (nee Poage), Mrs. Elizabeth 
9- 

Hoge, Elizabeth Lacy, see Irvine. 

Hoge, Elizabeth Poage (changed to 
Elizabeth Lacy), born 25 — quoted 
on home in Athens 32 — unites with 
church 58 — quotes letters from M. 
D. H. 58— letter from M. D. H. 
on failing health 83 — death 84. 

Hoge (nee Lacy), Mrs. Elizabeth 
R., parentage 20 — Mr. Grigsby's 
description 23 — marriage 23 — wid- 
owed 28, 452 — Mrs. Marquess' de- 
scription 29 — removes to Colum- 
bus 32 — to Granville, O., 31, 40 — 
to Zanesville, O., 54 — to Gallatin, 
Tenn., 54— letters of M. D. H. to 
45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54— last visit 
to 57 — death of 58— son's tribute 
to 58, 59- 

Hoge, Hampden, born 251 — brought 
up by sister 302 — with father at 
Atlantic City 386. 

Hoge, James "(1) 5. 

Hoge, James (2), General 5. 

Hoge, James (3), Dr., settlement in 
Ohio 11 — quoted 26 — M. D. H. 
visits 128 — on slavery 136. 

Hoge, Tohn Blair 11 — travels in Eu- 
rope 12 — eloquence 13 — ministry 
in Richmond 13 — MS. Life of his 
father 13. 

Hoge, John Blair (2) 13. 

Hoge, Mary R., see Gilliam. 

Hoge, Mary S., see Wardlaw. 

Hoge, Moses, birth 6 — education 7 — 
pastor at Shepherdstown 7 — presi- 
dent H. S. C. 7 — first professor in 
Synod's Theological Seminary 8 — 
work and character 7-10 — death 
and burial in Philadelphia 9 — John 
Randolph's opinion 10 — Charles 
Hodge on 267. 

Hoge, Moses A. 11, 97, 108. 



5i4 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Hoge, Moses Drury, born 25 — first 
recorded words 29 — early traits 29 
— removes to North Carolina 32 — 
illness on journey 33 — life in New 
Bern 34 — early friends 35, 36 — in- 
fluence of Uncle Drury 37 — S. S. 
teacher 37 — visits mother 40 — en- 
ters college 40 — preparation and 
habits 43 — religious convictions 
45 — teaches in North Carolina 47 
— unites with the church 51 — re- 
turns to college 51 — classmates 52 
—first public speech 52 — graduates 
with first honor 52 — valedictory 53 
— elected tutor 54 — interest in pub- 
lic men 55 — reunion in Gallatin 57 
— death of mother 58 — call to min- 
istry 61, 62 — enters Theological 
Seminary 63 — friendship for 
Greenleaf 65, 67, 68, 69 — courtship 
71 — calls 72, 73, 473 — licensure 74, 
473 — early preaching 74 — settles in 
Richmond 76 — marriage 82, 329 — 
ordination 82, 474 — birth of 
daughter 83 — trip to Canada 84 — 
preaching and preparation 85 — 
meets Webster 91 — and Clay 94 — 
White Sulphur 93 — gives up _ sal- 
ary 99 — schools 98, 100 — Univer- 
city lectures 103 — moderator of 
synod 114 — foreign travel 115 — 
D. D., H. S. C. 118— Central Pres- 
byterian 118 — visit to North Caro- 
lina 119 — bereavement 120 — illness 
121 — birthday reflections 121 — call 
to Brooklyn 123 — visits New York 
124 — birth of son 125 — changes 
129 — call to Washington 130 — 
other calls 130 — views on slavery 
136 — on union 138 — on secession 
144-147 — chaplaincy of Camp Lee 
148, 483 — of Congress 149— battle 
of Seven Pines 157 — mission to 
England 171, 484 — runs blockade 
!73> !75 — secures grant of Bibles 
176— plot for arrest 186 — death of 
child 186 — returns home 189, 190 
— runs blockade 191 — arrival home 
194 — lectures 194 — letter on 
brother's death 215 — brother's 
children 221, 238 — proposes fast- 
day 230 — retires from Richmond 
232 — sorrow and humiliation 235 — 
hope and resolve 240 — educational 
work 241 — Richmond Eclectic 241 
— Northern friends 237, 242, 244 — 
Hymn-book and Directory 246 — 



Hoge, Moses Drury {Continued) . — 
appointed to visit British churches 
247 — work for colored people 247 
— laid aside 248 — wife's illness 250 
— bereavement 254 — calls 258 — 
enlargement 261 — growth in 
preaching 263 — at Princeton 266 — 
Evangelical Alliance 268 — Stone- 
wall Jackson oration 269, 425 — 
Moderator of Assembly 275 — on 
"fraternal relations" 276— on Pres- 
byterian Alliance 281 — Publication 
disaster 287 — Edinburgh Council 
289 — Victoria Institute 291 — 
travels with Dr. McGuire 292 — in 
the Holy Land 293 — college ad- 
dresses 294 — lectures 295 — height 
of power 296 — pastoral work 307 
— mission work 312 — call to Phil- 
adelphia 315 — addresses on Presi- 
dent Garfield 418, 315 — travels 
with son 318 — Copenhagen Alli- 
ance 318 — LL. D., Washington 
and Lee 319 — address at 319 — 
preservation of history 321 — Pres- 
byterian Centennial 321 — commit- 
tee on union 321 — dedications 329 
— Forty-fifth anniversary 332 — ad- 
dress at 344 — multiplied responsi- 
bilities 348 — Davis address 353, 
463 — prayer at interment 352, 496 
— desire for relief 354 — financial 
losses 354 — fiftieth anniversary 61, 
357 — addresses on 360, 363, 366, 
471 — continued vigor 368 — Glas- 
gow Council 369 — address at 370 
— visit to Mr. Bayard 372 — Mr. 
Sinclair 376 — urged to write rem- 
iniscences 377 — Princeton Uni- 
versity degree 378 — Charlotte As- 
sembly 379 — Westminster address 
379, 381 — illness 385 — visit to Elk- 
ins, W. Va., 386 — preaches again 
387 — mortal accident 390 — made a 
Mason 391 — message to church 
391 — mental eclipse 392 — light in 
darkness 393 — death 394 — funeral 
395 — memorial service 416 — ap- 
pearance 56, 289, 290, 316, 400, 
419 — voice 56, 274, 419 — readiness 
402 — preparation 85, 263, 405 — 
capacity for work 356 — prayers 
408, 491 — humor 409 — sympathy 
and self-control 410, 413 — interest 
in children 84, 165, 410 — charity 
411 — faults 415 — language 407, 
419 — scholarship 43, 86, 407, 419 — 



Index. 



515 



Hoge, Moses Drury (Continued). — 
spirituality 87, 414, 423 — creed 86, 
290, 310, 413 — position in Church 
and State 415, 417 — letters of, see 
under names of persons addressed. 

Hoge, Moses D. (2), born 133 — 
study and travel 318 — attendance 
on father 385. 

Hoge, Peyton H., born 209 — or- 
dained 312 — letters to 352, 368, 
372, 386— last visit to uncle 392. 

Hoge, Samuel Davies, born 14 — re- 
ligious experience 14 — education 
15 — licensure 15 — marriage 23 — 
ordination 24 — pastor at Culpeper 
24 — professor at H. S. C. 25 — 
birth of son Moses Drury 25 — re- 
moval to Ohio 25 — professor at 
University 26 — journey east 26 — 
home life 27 — disease and death 
28 — described 26. 

Hoge (nee Watkins), Mrs. Susan 9. 

Hoge (nee Wood), Mrs. Susan 
Morton, ancestry 71 — engagement 
to M. D. H. 72 — marriage 82 — 
commended 100, 163 — accompanies 
Mrs. Jackson 185 — letters of M. D. 
H. to 93, 121, 164, 186 — letters 
from 193, 251 — character 249 — ill- 
ness 251 — patience under 251 — 
death 254. 

Hoge, Thomas 15, 40, 50, 121, 145. 

Hoge, William, came to America 3 — 
married Barbara Hume 3 — descen- 
dants in Pennsylvania 3 — in Vir- 
ginia 4 — burial at Opequon 
churchyard 4. 

Hoge, William James, born 27 — 
boyhood 44, 198 — enters college 
54 — unites with church 58 — mar- 
riage 108 — professor at Athens 
108, 199 — death of wife 108 — 
licensure and ordination 108, 199 — 
comes to Richmond 109 — brother's 
impressions no — called to co- 
pastorate in — letter on revival 
in — Westminster Church, Balti- 
more 113 — preaching in Delaware 
199 — second marriage 119 — Union 
Theological Seminary 119 — visit 
to North Carolina 119 — visits to 
brother 121, 122 — Blind Bartimeus 
201, 202 — Brick Church, New 
York 123 — character of ministry 
202 — political preaching 203 — re- 
signs pastorate 204 — his course 
vindicated 204 — farewell 208 — be- 



Hoge, William James (Continued) — 
reavements 209 — ministry in Char- 
lottesville 152, 211 — sketch of Dab- 
ney Carr Harrison 153 — plan to 
secure Bibles 168 — in Jackson's 
camp 182 — call to Tabb Street, Pe- 
tersburg 212 — chaplain service 
212 — ministry in Petersburg 214 — 
illness 214 — "The victory won" 
215— Dr. Moore's tribute 22 — Dr. 
Alexander's letter 223 — letters 
from M. D. H. to 44, 88, 89, 96, 
98, 150, 151, 153, 156, 172, 178— 
letters to M. D. H. 126, 131, 133, 
151, 155, 168 — letters to wife 118, 
119, 121, 122, 184, 210, 212. 

Hogetown, Pa., 3. 

Hogue, Addison, born 108 — lives 
with uncle 238 — professor in H. 
S. C. 303 — nurses uncle 385 — 
change of spelling 385 — quoted 
383 — Preface. 

Hollywood 210, 36o ; 396. 

Hollywood Memorial Association 
358. 

Horse 55. 

Howard, Mrs. Jane Schoolcraft 477. 
Hume, Barbara, see Hoge. 
Hunt, Mrs. Susan, see Hoge. 
Hunt, Thomas P. 9. 

Index Rerum 88, 407. 
International Lesson Committee 328, 
348. 

Irvine (nee Hoge), Mrs. Elizabeth 
Lacy, born 108, lives with uncle 
238 — marriage 303. 

Irving, Francis D. 52. 

Jackson, Andrew, M. D. H. visits 
55 — admiration for 138 — views of 
future quoted 239. 

Jackson, "Stonewall," at Dr. Hoge's 
church 166 — remarkable order 166 
—visit of W. J. H. 182— death 183 
— English admiration of 183, 272 — 
funeral described 184 — inaugura- 
tion of statue 269, 404 — oration at 
270, 425. 

Jackson, Mrs. "Stonewall," informed 
of husband's wound 185 — in fu- 
neral car 184 — letter from 273. 

Johnston, Joseph E., wounded 164 — 
visits Dr. Hoge 166 — friendship 
167 — letter from 197. 

Joint communion, prayer at 508. 

Jones, Rev. Harry 293, 375. 



5i6 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Kelvin, Lord 369. 
Kerr, R. P. 342, 416. 

Lacy, origin of family 15. 

Lacy, Beverly Tucker 20 — chaplain 
service 182. 

Lacy, Drury (1), birth 16 — loss of 
hand 16 — early life and education 
16 — vice-president H. S. C. 17 — 
gifts as preacher 17 — clerk of 
Hanover Presbytery 18 — Modera- 
tor General Assembly 19 — death 
and burial in Philadelphia 19. 

Lacy, Drury (2) 19, 20 — sympathetic 
character 18 — residence of M. D. 
H. with 32 — admiration for 37 — 
accompanies to H. S. C. 51 — letter 
to 114. 

Lacy, Elizabeth Rice, see Hoge. 

Lacy, Graham G. 15. 

Lacy, J. Horace (1) 20, 389. 

Lacy, J. Horace (2) 20. 

Lacy, Thomas, captured by pirates 

15 — settled in Virginia 16. 
Lacy, William 19, 20. 
Lacy, William S. 20, 381 — letters to 

350, 35i— Preface. 
Lacy-Hoge Church 72. 
Lamar, L. Q. C. 167, 179. 
Lane, Edward 475. 
Law, profession of 478. 
Lawley, Francis C. 232, 271, 377. 
Laws, S. S. 381. 

Lectures, at University of Va. 103 — 
to young men 108 — platform 295. 

Lee Camp, Confederate Veterans 
348, 361, 463. 

Lee, Robert E., letters from 196, 256 
— opposed to emigration 240 — 
Washington College 241 — death 
258. 

Lexington, call to 258. 
Leyburn, John 73, 82, 367. 
Lidgerwood, Wm. Van Vleck 378. 
Lincoln, Abraham, election of no 

ground for secession 140 — policy 

of coercion criticised 143 — death 

deplored 234, 
London, delight in 115 — residence in 

(1863) 178 — council 325 — last visit 

to 372. 
Lovenstein, William 362. 

McAden, Hugh 4. 
McGuffey, Dr. 62, 119, 211. 
McGuire,- Hunter 292, 392, 508. 
McKinney, P. W. 344. 



MacVicar, Principal, letter to 382. 

Marquess (nee Hoge), Mrs. Anne 
Lacy, born 25 — quoted on mother 
29 — on M. D. H. 29, 30 — on early 
home 32 — unites with church 46— 
marriage 54 — letters of M. D. H. 
to 54, 59, 145, 291 — closing inci- 
dents 367, 397. 

Marquess, William H., resides with 
Mrs. Hoge 31 — marriage 54 — let- 
ters from on Mrs. Hoge's death 
57, 58. 

Marquess, William Hoge 329. 

Martin, John B. 85, 476. 

Mason, James M. 175, 484. 

Maxwell, William 41, 43. 

Maxwell, Mrs. William 43. 

Memorial address, fiftieth anniver- 
sary 471. 

Memorial Day, prayer 499. 

Memorial service 416. 

Memphis, call to 258. 

Merrimac, destruction of 154. 

Miller, John, letter from 266. 

Minnigerode, Charles 253, 480. 

Mitchell, Father 56. 

Mobile, call to 73. 

Moderator, of Synod 114 — of Gene- 
ral Assembly 275. 

Moore, Thomas Verner, pastor First 
Church 97 — co-partnership in Cen- 
tral Presbyterian 118 — tribute to 
W. J. H. 222 — funeral of Dr. 
Hoge's child 193 — of Mrs. Hoge 
254 — tributes to 349, 480. 

Moore, W. W., on ancient monu- 
ments 356 — quoted 371 — address 
at memorial service 417. 

Nail, James Hoge 11. 

Nail, Robert H. 11. 

New Bern, N. C, described 33 — life 

of M. D. H. in 34 — revisited by 

37- 

New Orleans Assembly 287. 

New York, ministry of W. J. H. in 
123, 202 — M. D. H., sermons and 
addresses in 125, 268, 315. 

North Carolina, boyhood in 34 — 
teaches in 47 — visits Synod of 119. 

O'Ferrall, Governor 365. 

Old Market Mission, see Richmond, 
Hoge Memorial. 

Opequon Church 4. 

Oratory, contemporary and perma- 
nent influence 398, 399. 



Index. 



517 



Osborne, John D. 306. 

Ould, Robert, conversion 245 — let- 
ters from 245, 265 — death 303— 
tribute to 303, 478. 

Palestine, value of travel in 294, 488. 

Palmer, Benjamin M., letters from 
248, 252 — letter to 256. 

Palmerston, Lord 369, 465. 

Parochial schools, see Schools. 

Patrick, General 242, 243, 486. 

Peace, duty of Christians 139 — see 
Arbitration. 

Philadelphia, address at 267 — call to 
315 — Presbyterian Centennial 319. 

Plumer, William S., career 76 — in- 
vites M. D. H. to Richmond 72— 
ordination of M. D. H. 82— re- 
moval to Baltimore 96 — dedicates 
M. D. H.'s church 101 — address 
at Chicago 278 — Edinburgh Coun- 
cil 289— death 303— M. D. H.'s tri- 
butes to 76, 481 — letters from M. 
D. H. to 89, 90, 91, 97, 98, 99, 104, 
107, 109, no, 113, 117, 120, 137, 
138. 

Poage, Elizabeth, see Hoge. 

Politics, danger of factional 449, — 
scholarship in 465. 

Prayers, preparation of 408 — on spe- 
cial occasions 491. 

Preaching, W. J. H. on 131 — politi- 
cal 203 — sensational 263 — of W. J. 
H. described 199, 225, 226, 227 — of 
M. D. H. described 263, 289, 290, 
292, 296, 297, 298, 417 — method of 
preparation 85, 263, 405. 

Publication Committee, located in 
Richmond 153 — M. D. H. chair- 
man of 246, 348 — financial disaster 
287 — relief and success 247, 287. 

Randolph, Bishop, address at forty- 
fifth anniversary 339. 

Randolph, John, admiration for 
Moses Hoge 10 — M. D. H. visits 
home of 55. 

Randolph, Theo. F., friendship 244 
— letter from and death of 305 — 
mentioned 354. 

Reconstruction 234, 239. 

Reid, Charles 179. 

Revival 80, in, 113, 122, 310. 

Rice, John H., relation to U. T. 
Seminary 7, 8 — called to Rich- 
mond 18— influence on Drury Lacy 
19. 



Rice, Mrs. Anne 18 — quoted on 
Drury Lacy 17 — M. D. H. boards 
with 40 — letter from 75 — freed 
slave of 137. 

Rice, N. L. 103 — preaching described 
131. 

Richardson, T. G. 248. 

Richardson, W. T. 52. 

Richmond, burning of theatre 18, 
482 — in 1845, 79 — religious condi- 
tion in 1839, 80 — cholera 90 — Con- 
federate Capital 150 — attacks on 
154, 155, 157 — relieved 165 — evacu- 
ation 232, 483 — Capitol disaster 
257, 482 — character of ministry 
in 481. 

Richmond Churches — 

Church on Shockoe Hill (Grace 
Street) 13. 

First Presbyterian, founded 18 
— Dr. Rice pastor 19 — Dr. Plumer 
pastor 76 — M. D. H. assistant 76 
— buildings 78 — General Assembly 
96 — Dr. Moore pastor 97. 

Second Presbyterian, chapel 80 
— afternoon services 81 — organi- 
zation 82 — ordination of M. D. H. 
as pastor 82 — first session 85 — 
building 90, 98, 474 — debt 99 — ded- 
ication 101 — revivals in 113, 122, 
320 — enlargement 261, 474 — minis- 
ters from 475 — characteristics 346, 
486 — anniversary gifts 365. 

Church of the Covenant 311, 365, 
474- 

Hoge Memorial 313, 365, 475. 
Ritchie- Pleasants duel 94. 
Robinson, Stuart 103, 281, 286, 289. 
Rodes, R. E., letter from 196 — chap- 
lain service 212. 
Ruffner, William H. 103. 

Sample, Robert F. 356. 

Sampson, Francis L. 63, 103. 

Schools, Parochial 98, 100, 107 — re- 
vival in in. 

Schofield, General 242, 486. 

Secession, Dr. Dabney on 140 — of 
Virginia reluctant 146 — advised 
143 — cause of 144, 146" — approved 
by M. D. H. 146. 

Seddon, James 167, 250. 

Seven Pines 157. 

Shaftesbury, Lord, secures hearing 
for M. D. H. 175, 485— letter to 
Mason 177— to M. D. H. 177, 182, 
272. 



Moses Drury Hoge. 



Shedd, W. G. T., letter from 264. 

Shepperson, J. G. 52 — letter from 64. 

Silliman, Prof. 27. 

Sinclair, Thomas 376. 

Slavery 135. 

Slover, Charles H. 37. 

Smith, Benjamin M. 61, 103. 

Smith, Francis H. 41. 

Smith, James P. 184, 389, 395, 416. 

Smith, John Blair 9, 16. 

Smyth, Thomas, letter from 174. 

Soldiers and Sailors' Monument, ap- 
peal for 456 — dedication of 494. 

South Carolina, secession of 140. 

Southern Presbyterian Church, or- 
ganization 246 — "fraternal rela- 
tions" 276 — conferences on union 
321 — position as to colored 
churches 323. 

Stanley, Dean 489. 

Stephens, Alexander H. 148, 167. 

Stewart, J. Calvin 313, 395, 416. 

Stoddert, William 367. 

Stuart, J. E. B., letter from 197. 

Terhune, Edward P. 66. 
Terhune, Judge 67, 68, 69, 237, 306. 
Thomas, James D. 199. 
Thompson, John R. 85 — dedication 

hymn 474. 
Thornton, John 144. 
Tucker, John Randolph 136. 
Turnbull, L. B. 314. 
Tyler, J. Hoge, ancestry 5 — prayer 

at inauguration of 502 — presides at 

memorial service 416. 



Union, love for 138 — duty of South 
to 445. 

Union Theological Seminary, origin 
8 — reorganization of faculty 63 — 
M. D. H. at 63— W. J. H. profes- 
sor in 119 — visit to N. C. Synod in 
behalf of 119 — removal to Rich- 
mond 389. 

Unity, Christian 277, 285, 339, 344, 
346. 

University of Virginia, lectures 103 

— address at 413. 
University College of Medicine, 

prayer 507. 

Van Zandt, A. B. 103 — letter from 
106. 

Virginia, secession of, see Secession. 

Wallace, A. A. 367. 

Wardlaw (nee Hoge), Mrs. Mary 
209, 180 note, 411. 

Watkins, Susan, see Hunt. 

Watkins, Henry E. 21, 82. 

Watson, Thos., lines on New Bern 
34— letter to M. D. H. 35— visit 
of M. D. H. 367. 

Webster, Daniel 92. 

Webster, Sir Richard 373. 

Western insurrection 10. 

Wilmer, Bishop 80. 

Wilmington, N. C, 191, 193. 

Wilson, Bishop, address at forty- 
fifth anniversary 334. 

Wolseley, Field-Marshal 374. 

Wood, James D. 71. 

Wood, Susan Morton, see Hoge. 



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